Outsiders
by Gambit58
Summary: Buffy Dark Angel Silent Hill: A failed Mission sends Max and her friends to an alternate past
1. Chapter 1

Outsiders

Crossover: Buffy, Dark Angel and Silent Hill. There will be other in the future.

Timeline: Dark Angel- Shortly after 'Exposure' in Season 2, Buffy- Right before the Musical episode 'Once More With Feeling' in Season Six (There is a point that I mention right before which you will find out why in Chapter 4) As for Silent Hill, I don't think I need a timeline on that one.

Pairing: I'm not going to say, I don't want to give away anything

Summary: After a failed mission, Max, Alec, Robert, and Ames are stranded in the past. But was it an accident, or part of someone's evil plan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, Dark Angel, Silent Hill or any other show or movie that crosses over in future chapter.

Beginning notes: The transgenic named Robert is a made up character which is loosely similar to the Robert from one of my other stories. As far as his past goes, it will be slowly reveal over the story. I can tell you this he's been with Max longer then Alec, which means that some of the episodes of Dark Angel will be a little rewritten for this story. As far as description, he's the same age as Alec, a little tall then him, but not much, blue eyes, short light brown hair and built. Also this was inspired by a You Tube video of Buffy and Dark Angel with the song 'Outsider', which is part of the reason I call the story 'Outsiders'

Chapter 1

Max led the three of them, the three transgenics, her, Alec, and Robert down the dark hallway. She was head of them as she stalked down the hallway in her cat like motion. Alec and Robert were just behind her, walking just as quick as she was, but not in the same way.

At one point, Alec turns his head to Robert and whispers "Do you think walking like that actually helps?" he was referring to the way Max was walking. Robert smiles and laughs on the inside.

"Quiet" Max furiously whispers to both of them.

Alec and Robert were differently and yet the same. Both transgenics from Manticore, both sent most of there lives in there, expect Max liberated Robert from it, where Alec was forced from it. Robert was thankful to Max and he had become close to her and was someone she could always trust. Alec was different, he wasn't thankful and she didn't always trust him because he was something of a con artist. This lead to another problem, Alec and Robert hung out a lot and she was afraid he was a bad influence on Robert, like right now. Another differences, yet same, was that they were both carrying weapons, however Robert had a long leather jacket on that concealed his katana. Alec had a gun concealed in his brown jacket. Max didn't have a weapon, she goes with hand to hand combat as to less the risk of killing someone.

"Now is not the time to risk getting caught" Max whispers to both of them.

They were currently sneaking threw a government installation that on the outside looks like a large warehouse. About a week back, Logan had gotten a hold of info about Agent Ames White taking of over an experiment called 'Slide Jump'. They were basically building a teleporting device, which wouldn't be their problem, but the fact that Ames White had taken over, the man who is in charge of hunting their kind down and killing them, well that made it their problem. If he got this technology working, then whenever he got a report on the location of a nearby transgenic, he could teleport men right to the location. So they need to destroy the device and all info on it.

Logan, using his 'eyes only' resources got info on the location of the building and blue prints of the inside, along with the code to the back door. Max, Alec, and Robert jumped the back fence and used the code to get into the back door. Logan was in a van a few blocks down with his computer equipment and was hacked in the security system. He currently was tied into the security cameras, making them reshow old security footage so they could sneak by without being seen. Logan wasn't alone in the van, Joshua was with him. He was protection if Logan was discovered.

As far as the rest of the plan goes, once they reached a point in the building, Robert would split from the others and head for the control room. Alec and Max would continue on to the staging area of the experiment. Once they were all just outside their target areas, Logan was going to cause the fire alarm to go off making everyone evacuate the building. Next, Robert was going to enter the control room and tie Logan's computer into the main one. Tapping into the main computer was a lot harder then getting into the security system, so that is why Logan needed help on that end. Once into the main computer, Logan was going to download a virus that would destroy all the files on the teleporter. While this was going on, Max and Alec would be setting explosive, which Max was carrying in a backpack, just below and around the teleporter and once the files were destroyed and everyone was out the building, Logan would cut the power to the building and then Max would set off the charges by remote. Cutting the power was just a safety precaution considering they don't completely know what they were dealing with. They weren't sure if blowing it up while it was being fed power would cause a bigger explosion, so it was better safe then sorry.

That wasn't the end of their plan; next they would have to find Dr. Yoshi, the man who was the head of the experiment and convince him to stop his work. They were hoping on the fact that he wasn't happy about Ames taking over and would agree.

They make it to the spot where they going to split up, to the left was a door that led to a stair case. Robert was going to use it to get to the control room which was on the second floor.

After Robert continued on, Max takes out her cell and dials Logan. After one ring Logan picks up on the other end and says "Talk to me, Max"

Max whispers back "Robert is heading for the control room, we're continuing on, give us four minutes and then sound the alarm"

"Right" Logan answers back and then they both hang up.

The cells they all had were on a secure line, so they couldn't be picked up by the enemy.

Dr. Yoshi was currently in the staging area, arguing with Agent White about the next test and the fact White still wanted to use human test subjects even after what happen to the last three. The last three test subjects didn't exactly make it threw the transport alright and met a terrible end. The first test subject came back full of rage and when violent and before they could take him down, his heart stopped and he died. The second subject seemed alright at first, but minutes later he poked out his eyes with his fingers and then bit off his own tongue and choked to death on it. The third one went ballistic right after the test and it took a number of men to take him down before they got him restrained. The man is now in a mental institute, wearing a white jacket, living in white padded room. Now he wants to send another one threw, and no one would ever question what happen to these people, because they were all convicts on death row.

Dr. Yoshi never wanted his invention to get like this. He was originally a scientist in Japan and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get funding there, so when the U.S. government offered him funding, he took it right away.

When he came here, he didn't plan to use human subjects or anything organic, he knew that would never be in his life time. If fact, it could be life times away before the transport device could be safe enough for humans to use. He was aiming for a teleporter that could transport non-organic materials and he was coming close to succeeding, the only problem he and the rest of the crew was having was that the items kept falling apart shortly after teleport. But they were close to solving that problem.

Everything was going great until about a half a month ago when a government agent named Ames White took over, the man he was arguing with now. Shortly after taking over, he ordered them to start using human subjects, something Yoshi was completely against, but no matter how much he argued the point to Ames, he couldn't change his mind. In fact, Ames looks like he's losing his mind, he first showed up looking all government like, but over time it looked like he was losing sleep and constantly having headaches.

One thing was for sure, once his contract was up; Yoshi was quitting and going back to Japan.

Just then the alarm goes off, and everyone in the stage area starts running out.

"That's the fire alarm!" Yoshi said "We have to evacuate the building!"

Pain shoots threw Ames head right before he pulls out his gun and aims it at Yoshi "No one is going anywhere, doctor, call everyone back now!"

"Are you crazy?!! There's a fire, we have to get out of here and wait for the fire suppression team to arrive!!"

"You're not going anywhere, GOT THAT!" Ames threaten

Robert had hid in a supply closet right across the hall to the control room, and once everyone had evacuated, he quickly enter the room and got right to work at one of the computers. Following Logan's instructions, he entered the right commands to help Logan gain access to the mainframe. He even cut power to the teleporter just in case; of course it would have to be Logan who would cut power to the building all together.

Robert picks up his cell "Logan, I'm done, can you take it from here?"

From inside the Van, Logan was in the back part with his equipment set up. On his computer, thanks to Robert, he had just gain access to the main system "I'm in"

"Good" Robert said and then took out an ear piece and hooked it to his cell and his ear. He then hooked his cell to his belt "I'll hold here until you're done"

Just then, a shoot was heard from the staging area.

"Robert, that sounded like gun fire, are you alright!?" Logan asked

"That didn't come from my position" Robert says as he walks over to the window that looks over the staging area. At first he saw the teleporter, it was a machine that had three large cylinder looking things extending and pointing towards a glass dome, inside the dome was the transporter pad, he knew in another room was another pad in which you were teleported to, but this was the main one. Then some something else caught his attention, it was the two people down there. Dr. Yoshi, who was shot in the leg, and the man who shot him, Ames White. Robert's blood boils at the sight of Ames.

"Logan, we have a problem" Robert said

"What is it?" Logan asked

"Ames and Yoshi are still in the building"

Logan starts to worry "Robert, don't do anything rash"

"Oh, you know me, Logan, I'm not a rash guy" Robert says with a smirk and then pulls his ear piece off.

Just then, the control room door opens, Robert turns around to see a guard with his gun aimed at him. The guard yells "Don't Move!"

Robert could tell the young guard was still wet behind the ear as he was shaking as he advances on Robert and nervously says "Put…put your hands up!"

Robert looks at him with an evil smile that only makes the guard more nervous.

In the van, Logan desperately tries to get Robert to answer "Robert! Can you hear me?! Robert, whatever you do, don't go after Ames!"

Joshua, the man dog transgenic, comes from the front of the van, where he was keeping look out and asks "Something wrong with Robert?" Joshua had a sweater on with hood over his head to help conceal his face.

"Yeah, but don't worry" Logan said, and then dials another number "Max, it's Logan, we have a problem"

Yoshi was on the ground, covering the bullet wound on his right leg. He was in a state of shock "I can't believe it!! You shot me in the leg!! You crazy American, you shot me!!"

Ames couldn't believe he did it either, but now he had to figure out his next step. However before he could, a gun shot sound came from the control room. Ames turns around and looks up at the control room, as he does, Yoshi is able to get to his feet and limp out of the room.

In the control room, Robert held the guard's gun in his left hand and the guard's right wrist in his right hand. He was applying so much pressure to the guard's wrist that a huge amount of pain was shooting threw the guard's arm and he was on his knees.

"How about I let you go and you leave like you were suppose to when the alarm when off" Robert said

The guard just nods his head in agreement and then quickly runs out the room when Robert lets him go. After the guard left, Robert drops the clip out of the gun and kicks it to one side of the room and then throws the gun to the other side. Next Robert grabs the nearest chair and throws it threw the window.

The chair smashes threw the window and Ames is startled on the inside but doesn't show it on the outside, he keeps his stone cold look as he watches the chair fall to and smash on the floor.

"Ames!!" Robert yells with rage, and Ames looks back up and is not happy to see who it is "Time to put that pain threshold of yours to the test!!"

Robert jumps threw the hole that the chair made and does a flip in the air before he lands on floor on his feet.

Robert is only a few feet away from Ames as he takes out his katana.

Ames laughs and aims his gun "Only an idiot like you would bring a knife to a gun fight"

Robert smirks back "Do you thing you can actually hit me with that and not hit your lovely teleporter" Robert was standing in front of the teleporter and if Ames misses him, he'll hit it.

"Don't worry, a few bullet shots won't cause too much damage" Ames says back and then opens fire on him, but Robert was too quick and dodges out the way and comes up on Ames with a deadly slash. Ames makes a mistake and puts up his hand to block it, the hand holding the gun. Ames is slashed across the top part of his hand and even with his high tolerances to pain, he still drops his gun.

Robert attacks with more slashes that were meant to kill Ames, but luckily and just barely, Ames is able to dodge out the way, however it was close and his expensive suit takes some damage.

After a few more near hits, Ames is able to kick Robert's sword out of his hand. Unfortunately, it didn't slow Robert down as he continued attack him hand to hand. Robert was also better then Ames at hand to hand, so Ames was still at a disadvantage. Ames starts to take some hard hits; his high tolerance for pain was being put to the test. The bad blood between these two was apparent.

The fight lasts about a half a minute longer before more security guards run into the room, there were about seven of them and they drew their guns and start firing at Robert. Robert dodges out the way and ducks behind a control consult.

All the bullets miss Robert and hit the teleporter. Ames yells at the guards "Hold your fire!" and the guards stop. One or two bullets, he didn't mind, but a whole lot of them, now that could cause some damage.

"Idiots, your damaging the teleporter!" Ames yelled to the guards. He was then about to turn his attention back to Robert when Max and Alec came out of nowhere and attack the guards. Ames mutters frustratingly to himself "Where there's one filthy rat, there's more"

Despite the fact the guards were getting there buts kick by the new arrivals, Ames decides to keep his attention on Robert.

As he turns back to the control panel Robert was hiding behind, he sees that Robert had already came out of hiding and was ready for round two. They both had rage in their eyes and would have gone at it again, but their attention was draw to the teleporter suddenly powering up.

They were both confused, Robert more then Ames. Robert cut the power off from it, so it shouldn't be able to turn on. Plus, the bullets that hit it didn't damage it enough for it to be malfunctioning.

Back in the van, Logan couldn't believe what he was seeing on his lap top screen "This is impossible!"

"What's wrong?" Joshua asked

"Someone has overwritten me and locked me out. Whoever it is has also restored power!"

"Max and friends in trouble?"

Logan thinks for a moment and then says "They just might…we better drive up there and get a better look"

Ames thoughts came back to him first and he saw that Robert was still distracted. As Robert was trying to figure out why the teleporter was powering up, he suddenly felt two hard blows to his mid back that drop him to his knees.

"You should have kept your mind on the fight" Ames said and was about to follow up his attack, but was suddenly jumped by Max and Alec.

Max and Alec had finished off the guards and sent them retreating. It was then that they saw Robert getting attacked from behind by Ames and when to help.

Robert looks to his left and sees his katana on the ground. He picks it up and puts it back inside his jacket as he stands back up. He sees Max and Alec fighting Ames and would have help, but he couldn't help wonder how the teleporter was powering up. The three large cylinders were now each shooting out a red laser into the glass dome and were forming a red glowing sphere in the middle. The red sphere was giving off a large amount of red mist that was leaking out into the open thanks to the bullet holes.

Robert looks up into the control room and for a second he could have sworn he saw the silhouette of someone.

Suddenly the glass dome shatters and the room starts to fill up with the red mist.

Robert turns to the other "Guys, we better get the hell out of here!"

Max and Alec, who were currently beating the hell out of Ames, stop and notice that the room got a little more fogger, with red fog. They were all about to leave when the sound of an emergence siren starts to blare out of nowhere. They all, including Ames, start to get dizzy and pass out.

Logan was driving up to the front gate of the factory when he notices a red light shooting from all the windows.

"What the hell?!" is all Logan could say before the whole building collapsed in on its self

Logan and Joshua quickly get out the van and run up to the front gate.

As Joshua was pulling the front gate open, Logan mutters "Max" in fear, he could only assume the worse.

TBC

One last thing and I know this is a stupid thing to do, but I'm going to do it anyway. Here it goes…the theme music for this story is 'Soul meets Body' by Death Cab for Cutie


	2. Chapter 2: Seeing Red

Outsiders

Chapter 2: Seeing Red

Nobody knew where they were or what was happening. One moment Robert, Alec, and Max were fighting Ames as a red mist was surrounding them and next, after a red flash, they were flying threw this huge tunnel like they were shot out of a cannon.

The tunnel itself was a huge flowing blood red tunnel; in fact the sides look like swirling red liquid.

They couldn't see each other, so each of them thought they were alone. And each of them were afraid and in pain. They didn't know what was happening to them and to add to it, there was this screaming in their heads. And it was not your typical scream; it was like a thousand people screaming in one single voice right inside their heads. This is where the pain was coming from; it felt like their heads were going to explode.

They were only in the tunnel for thirty seconds, which to them it felt like an eternity, before another red flash came and they all hit the ground hard.

All four of them were still in pain as the aftereffects of their unwanted trip lingers. They were having a hard time getting to their feet or even opening their eyes.

As for where they were, all they could tell was they were outside and on grass.

Ames was the first to his feet and opens his eyes, although he had trouble staying up as his legs felt weak and his head was spinning. He looks around and from what he could tell, it was still night, there was a lot of fog in the air, and he was in a graveyard. He concluded that he had somehow gone threw the teleporter and instead of ending up on the exit pad, it somehow teleported him outside.

He then remembers the test subjects and their psychotic episodes. Since it happened to them, it was bound to happen to him. Fear runs threw him and he realizes he needs to get some help.

Ames stumbles away, like a man who had too much to drink, while reaching into his jacket for his cell.

Max, Alec, nor Robert saw Ames go; they didn't even know he was there. Hell, they didn't even know each other was here. They were still having a hard time getting up.

The trip, for some reason, had hit them harder and was having a slightly different effect. Max was the next to get her eyes open and was able to sit up. She looks around at the graveyard she was in and notices something strange about her vision; everything had a red tint to it. This would have concerned her, expect for the fact that she was filled with rage and didn't care.

She looks over to her right and sees Robert getting to his feet, he was breathing heavily and had an extremely pissed off look on his face. The same after effects that was affecting her was affecting him.

"Where the fuck are we?!" Max hears Alec say and she looks to her left to see him getting to his feet

"We're outside" Robert responded sarcastically

"No shit Sherlock!" Alec said back with anger

"Don't you two start!" Max ordered them both

"And what are you going to do?!" Robert said "Whip our asses?!"

Max gets extremely pissed off as she storms over to Robert "If you're not carefully, I just might!"

Robert stares her back down and thinks how he could beat the hell out of her if she tries anything. But then something comes to him, why was he angry with her and why was he filled with so much rage. In fact, why did everything look red? Robert takes a step back and backs down from her. He realizes something is not right with all of them and needs to figurer it out.

"That's what I thought" Max said as Robert backs up

Alec gets a cocky smirk and mutters "Max's little bitch"

Max heard him "What was that?!" she yells as she storms over to him and gets in his face "What did you say?!"

Alec wasn't about to repeat himself at first but then figures, what the hell "I said he's your little bitch, like he always is"

"You know Alec, I've been looking for a reason to knock that fucking little cocky smirk from your face and I think I've just found it"

Max pulls back her fist and is ready to knock his head off. But before she could, Robert yells out "Max stop! There is something seriously wrong with all of us!"

Max stops and looks at Robert. She knew something was wrong with them, but for some reason, she didn't care. She was filled with so much rage, she didn't care. Max finally says "We need Logan" She pulls out her cell and tries to call him, but can't get a signal "Dam it"

"What's wrong?" Robert asked

"My cell's not working"

Robert and Alec both pull out their cells and have the same problem.

"Mine neither" Alec said

"Ditto" Robert added

"This is just fucking great!" Max said as she crushes her cell and throws it to the ground

"So we just hike it, no big deal, Max" Alec said

"You're really pushing it, Alec" Max responded

"Wait, guys, do you hear that" Robert said "It sounds like fighting" Robert points "Coming from that direction"

"I hear it also" Max said

"Then lets go check it out" Alec said "I could use a good fight right now"

Ames had made it out of the cemetery and was now in the woods. He didn't know where he was going. Right now he was just stumbling around, trying desperately to get his head straight. He failed at first to get a signal on his cell and decides to try again.

"It's not going to work" A female's voice said from behind him

Ames jumps as he turns around, he sees a short blonde woman behind him. She was wearing a pink sweater and blue jeans "Who the hell are you?!"

The blonde woman laughs "Hell…what an interesting word to use right now…well, let's just say I'm the only friend you have right now"

"I don't think so. You need to get away from me right now, there's no tell what I'm capable of at the moment" Ames tries his cell again

"Oh don't worry, your not as bad off as your, and I use the term loosely, friends" The blonde woman said "your little trip didn't hit you as hard. Probably has to do with your high tolerances for pain"

Ames stops trying to get a signal on his cell and looks at her strangely.

The blonde woman continues "And unless you get a new plan, your cell isn't going to work at all"

"And why is that?" Ames asked carefully

"Well, the simplest way to put it, you're not in the right time…not even in the right reality…think of it as an alternate past"

Ames eyes widen in shock "That's impossible, you're crazy"

"Really, I'm crazy?…so, Ames, how have you been sleeping lately? Nightmares keeping you up?"

Along with the shock, Ames was now feeling a little fear inside him "How do you know about that? I didn't tell anyone"

"Because I'm the one who cause them, along with those little voices in the back of your head"

Ames was now completely afraid. He would have grabbed his gun, but he lost it in the fight earlier, so he takes a fighting stance.

The blonde woman smiles "Oh Ames, would you really hit a woman…of course you would, you've got further, you've killed women before" The blonde woman suddenly morphs into Robert "like my girlfriend"

Ames suddenly freaks and takes several swings at him, but they all go threw him like he wasn't even there. The Robert figure was now laughing and Ames stumbles back, trips, and falls on his back.

"What the fuck are you?" Ames asked with fear

"What I am, well that could take some time to explain, but I can tell you what I'm called. I've gone by many names, but the most common one and my favorite is 'The First'"

Ames didn't say anything back, he couldn't think of anything. He figured out that this 'First' wasn't Robert. It was either a hallucination or some sort of paranormal activity. Either way, he was freaking out.

The First kneels down in front of him "Oh, what's the matter Ames, you don't like this form. Well, to tell you the truth, it's not my favorite" It morphs back to the blonde woman "This is my favorite, her name is Buffy. Cutie little fake blonde with a firm butt"

"This isn't happening" Ames said as he was getting up "You stay away from me" He then takes off further into the woods

The First sighs "They always freak at first, but then later, they come around"

Max, Alec, and Robert found where the fight was going on. They hid behind some bushes, but with all the fog in the air, they didn't need much cover.

They could tell that there were at least four people fighting at the moment. Two men fighting each other and a man fighting a woman.

Max uses her genetically enhanced vision to voom in on the fights. She couldn't get much on the two men that were fighting, other then one was dressed up like a grease monkey with his blue jeans, white shirt, leather jacket and grease back hair. And he was getting his ass kicked by the other who had obvious fake blonde hair and a leather duster.

The other fight, she did get a good look at. A short blonde woman with a black sweater, black jacket and black jeans was beating the hell out of a man that was dressed up in a brown suite and had ridges on his forehead.

Usually Max wouldn't jump to conclusions but her mind wasn't thinking clearly, she immediately assumes that the man with the ridges was a transgenic and the woman beating him up was one of Ames's agents considering she was giving him some hard hits and didn't have a bar code on the back of her neck.

"That bitch is beating on one of our own!" Max said as she ran out towards the fight.

Alec and Robert used there enhanced vision also to get a good look at what was going on, but both of them had a better idea of what was happening.

Alec knew that the man the woman was fighting was a vampire. He originally learned about them back at Manitcore and had a few encounters since. However, he didn't care what those people were, he just wants fight; so as Max goes after the blonde woman, he goes after the other two and decides to fight the blonde man in the leather jacket first.

Due to his memory loss, Robert couldn't remember when he learned about vampires, although he assumed he learned it in Manitcore, he just suddenly knew they were vampires. Except for the blonde woman, he didn't know what she was, but he could see she wasn't normal by the power of her hits.

While the other two when to fight, Robert wasn't sure what to do, the rage inside him right now begged him to join the fight, but the common sense in him urge him not to and try to figure out what was causing this rage inside all of them.

Tonight, it had been one headache after another for Buffy, first she got into an argument with her sister, Dawn. So, she decided to blow off some steam by going on patrol and finding some blood suckers to slay. That's when Spike showed up and not that Buffy had a problem with him, it's just she wanted to be alone and after giving him several hints, he didn't get a clue. Then, shortly after, they saw red flashes of light in the distance sky and decided to check it out. However, on the way, they ran into two vampires who were also drawn to the red flash, that's when the fight ensured. Which wasn't all too bad, in fact her and Spike were kicking ass and Buffy had now just knocked her vampire down, pulled out her stake and was about to finish him off. She couldn't think off a witty remark so she decides to just stake him. But before she could, Buffy senses danger and turns around just in time to see a dark hair dark dressed looking woman tackle her to the ground. At this point, the vampire she was fighting decides not to press his luck so he gets up and runs for it.

Buffy was on her back with Max on top of her, Max tries to smash Buffy's face in with her fist, but Buffy moves her head in time and all Max gets is dirt. Buffy then flips Max off of her and Max lands on her back. Both jump back to their feet at the same time.

"I'm going to send you back to Ames in a body bag!" Max yells at Buffy and then attacks her.

Buffy was confused as she takes up a defensive stance. Who or what is Ames!? Max attacks Buffy with amazing speed, but Buffy is able to put up a defense against her.

Spike knocks out the grease monkey looking vampire and is about to pull out a stake, but then realizes he doesn't have any. Spike feels pretty stupid and is about to ask Buffy for one when he sees some woman fighting Buffy. Since the Vampire Spike was fighting was knocked out, he decides that it would be a good idea to lend Buffy a hand.

Spike is about to head over and help Buffy, when he senses someone coming up on his side. Spike steps back in time to dodge a front jump kick.

After the missed attack, Alec stares at Spike with an evil grin and says "You don't need to worry about her; you need to worry about yourself"

As Max was fighting the blonde woman and Alec was fighting the blonde guy, Robert still stood in the distance, trying to make sense of what was happening to them while at the same time, fighting the urge to join the fight.

Buffy was having a hard time fighting this unknown woman because she moved so quickly, all she could do at the moment was put up a defense. Buffy could tell that this woman wasn't a vampire because vampires don't move this fast, but at the same time she wasn't normal. She also had some power behind her blows but luckily it wasn't anything she couldn't handle.

Spike was having an even harder time then Buffy, Alec was coming at him at all angles; Spike could barely defend himself. Every time Spike tries to fight back, he just left himself open for an attack.

Buffy was still on defense, but she knew she had to take action soon, so as she blocks a punch, Buffy tries to counter with a swing of her own, but Max blocks and grabs her arm. However this didn't stop Buffy as she now had her in one spot and Buffy grabs her shirt with the same arm; pulls her forward and knees her in the stomach. As Max bends over from the blow, Buffy uppercuts her and knocks her on her back. Even though she was on her back, Max wasn't out yet, but before she could get back up, Buffy jumps on her and decks her cross the side of her face. Buffy would have continued, but to her surprise, the attack had done it and Max was now knocked out.

Spike was knock to the ground by Alec and Alec was about to finish him off. Buffy was about to run over and help him, but out of nowhere someone beat her to the fight. A man with light brown hair grabs the man fighting Spike from behind.

"Alec, stop this now!" Robert says as he grabs Alec's arm "There is something seriously wrong with us!"

Alec didn't like the fact that Robert stopped him and he felt like he was a traitor. Alec responses to him by swing around and trying to hit Robert with a back handed punch. Robert ducks it and counters with a deck to Alec's jaw that connects. Alec stumbles back some and then looks at Robert with a pissed off look and looks as if he was going to attack Robert again, but then suddenly Alec gets dizzy and then collapses to ground and is out.

Robert is confused, Alec, like Max and him, were genetically build soldiers that could take a hold lot more damage then that.

Robert looks at Buffy and then at Spike, before going to check on Alec. Both looks as if they were ready to fight, but weren't coming at him, they were just keeping their guard up just in case he came at them.

As Robert kneels down next to Alec to check on him, he says to Buffy and Spike "Please excuse my friends, something happened to us that affected our heads"

"Like what?" Buffy asked with a stern voice

Robert laughs as he says "It's kind of hard to explain and I don't think you'll believe me" Seeing that Alec is okay, Robert decides to check on Max, but as he stands up he suddenly starts to get dizzy.

"Why don't you try and explain it" Buffy says back, but then notices that he is having trouble standing "Hey, are you alright?"

Robert stood there trying to fight the dizziness. He could feel himself about to pass out and that was the last thing he wanted right now. He didn't know these two people and even though it was Max and Alec that attack them first and they were defending themselves, it doesn't mean their good people. "I'm…fine"

"Well, you don't look it, mate" Spike said

Even though his mind was getting cloudy, Robert realizes why Max and Alec were taken out so easily, whatever sent them into a rage causes them to pass out as it wore off. Max and Alec's passing out was brought on early and quick do to the fighting, but Robert didn't fight so it was wearing off slowly.

"Seriously, you don't look so well" Buffy said, she want to go and help him, but all she knew about him was that his friends attacked Spike and her, and then he stop one of his friends, or at least she thinks their his friends. This could just be an act on his part, so she kept her distances.

As much as he fought it, Robert knew he was going to pass out soon. He looks at Buffy and is barely able to say "Need to call…need to…"

"Call who?" Buffy asked

"Call…Logan" Robert suddenly realizes something and looks at Spike "You're a…vampire" he then passes out and falls face first on to the ground.

"Figure that out a moment to late" Spike said, he then sees Buffy walking over to him "Hold on, love, that might not be the safes idea"

"I don't think we had anything to worry about when he was awake" Buffy says as she kneels down next to him, right before she rolls him over, Buffy notices a bar code tattoo on the back of his neck

"So what do you think this was all about" Spike asked

"I don't know" Buffy says as she was checking Robert's pulse "But I wonder if it has to do with all those red lights in the sky earlier" After Robert's pulse checks out okay, Buffy looks over at Alec and then at Max. While staring at Max, Buffy stands up and says "We're taking them back to my place"

Spike didn't like that idea "Huh, I don't think that's the best decision"

"We're still doing it" Buffy responses

"Well, how do you plan to get them there…I'm not carrying them all the way to your house…and then there Dawn, what if they wake up and go all berserk again and Dawn gets caught in the middle"

Buffy cuts him off "First off, I just need your help getting them to the street corner; I'm going to call Willow and tell her to meet us there with the SUV. As far as Dawn goes, she can go spend the night at Xander's or Anya's and if they wake up and go berserk again, well we'll just have to tie them up so that doesn't happen"

Spike sighs "Whatever" then realizes that he still has a knocked out vampire to deal with "Hey, do you have an extra stake…I forgot to…bring one" Buffy pulls out a stake from her jacket and toss it to Spike, after he caught it, Spike stakes the vampire.

As Buffy pulls out her cell phone, she looks down at Robert and thinks 'He's cute' but then shakes the thought out of her head. She defiantly doesn't need to be thinking that way about a possible threat.

TBC

Next Chapter: 'We're not in Settle any more'


	3. Chapter 3: We're not in Seattle

Outsiders

Chapter 3: We're Not in Seattle Anymore

As Robert walks down the fog filled street, he didn't know where he was or how he got here; this was very disconcerting to him. All he could do is look around for some clue to where he was, which was hard because of the lack of visibility caused by the fog. All Robert could tell at the moment was that he was walking down a business street of a town, not a city, the buildings were too small. The town itself abandon because there wasn't a soul in sight. The place seemed like a ghost town, possibly could be one.

All Robert could do at the moment was look for a sign that could tell him where he was. Threw the thick fog, he barely sees a street sign at the spot where the street crosses with another. He decides it's a start and begins to walk towards it.

As Robert comes to the street crossing, something else catches his attention. Threw the thick fog, further down the street, he can see the silhouette from of someone else walking towards him. After a few seconds more, he can tell who it is, Max.

Max sees Robert and calls out to him, but there is no sound coming from her mouth. Robert tries to call back, but same thing, no sound, just silence.

Max gets tried of trying to call out and waves him over to her. Robert is about to go over to her, but is stopped by the sound of someone kicking a car. Robert looks to his right and not to far down the street that crosses with his, he sees a frustrated Alec. Alec had seen Robert when he came to the crossing but couldn't get his attention because he too was mute. When he saw him about to continue on his way, and considering how thick the fog is, he didn't want to risk losing him, so he kicked a nearby parked car to get his attention. It worked; Robert was now looking in his direction.

Robert didn't know what to do, Max was in one direction and Alec was in another, the fog was too thick to risk losing site of one and he was mute just like the other. So he decided to do the only thing he could do, signal them over to him. Robert looks at Max and waves her over, then points in Alec's direction, and just for the hell of it he mouthed the name 'Alec' hoping she could read his lips. Then he looks towards Alec and did the same thing, waves him over, points in Max's direction and mouths the name 'Max'. Both of them got the clue and start to walk quickly towards him. However shortly after they start, an emergency siren goes off blaring threw the sky. All of them could have sworn they had heard it before.

Max and Alec only stopped for a second after the siren started, but then continued towards Robert, but before they could make it to him, everything suddenly fades to darkness.

Robert slowly starts to wake up from the nightmare he was just having. His head was throbbing and the morning light coming threw the window was shinning into his eyes, temporarily hurting his eyes and blurring his vision. His first thought was that he had too much to drink at 'Crash's' last night and is currently at Logan's, waking up on his sofa. He knew he wasn't at Max's because the place didn't smell.

As Robert rubs his eyes, trying to get the sleepiness out, he mutters "Why does Crash have to sell such cheap beer?"

Suddenly he hears a familiar female voice answer "Maybe you shouldn't drink so much"

Robert's eyes shot wide open and he looks towards the voice to see a familiar blonde sitting in a chair across from sofa and that is went every thing starts to come back to him, the fail mission, unwanted trip threw the strange blood wall tunnel, the rage and the fight in the graveyard. And now here he was in a stranger's place, most likely the blonde's home.

Buffy looks serious as she says to him "The only reason you're not tie up with your friends is because you didn't give me reason to…if you do, you'll ended up with them"

"Where are my friends?" Robert asked

"Their safe" is the only answer Buffy was willing to give at the moment. However they weren't far, they were in the basement under guard. Buffy hated doing this, but she felt like she didn't have any other choice. She couldn't just have left them in the cemetery, because if they were dangerous, they might come after her again or some other innocent bystander, she couldn't turn them over to the police because she knew they weren't normal. She couldn't kill them because there was a chance that they were victims of something that made them acted violent; perhaps those red flashes of lights she saw last night had something to do with it. However Buffy believes the last theory, that it was the red flashes that made them attack, and that they just need her help. That's why they were at her house. But Buffy couldn't take too much of a risk and that is why the two that attack her and Spike were tied up "By the way, I'm Buffy"

"Robert" he says back and then sat up and the movement causes his head to wince in pain more.

Buffy sees him painfully rub his head and asks "Would you like some water?"

"I don't think water will do any good" Robert answers and then notices something was missing, he sees jacket on the coffee table but it was folded up so it couldn't be there "Where's my katana?"

"Oh, your sword is in a safe place too, excuse me if I don't allow you have it at the moment"

Robert sighs "Fair enough…look if you just let me use your phone, we'll be out of your way in no time"

"To call…Logan"

"That's right"

"I don't suppose you'll tell me what happen to you and your friends last night"

"I don't think you'll believe me"

Buffy smiles "You would be surprise on what I'll believe"

Robert sighs again and then asks "How long have you been fighting vampires?"

Buffy shakes her head "No, you answer my question first and then I'll answer yours"

"Alright" Robert says and decides to give her the abridged vision "My friends and I went threw a swirling red tunnel with blood for wall and when we came out the other end, we were temporary full of rage and wasn't" Just then, he it came to him "Wait, the tunnel, that's what made us go crazy, it basically fuck with our heads"

"The red tunnel fuck with your heads, well why did you go threw it then?"

"No, I answered one of your questions, now you have to answer one of mine…like I asked before, how long have you been fighting vampires?"

Buffy knew that Robert gave her the quick version, so she give him a quick answer "Years"

"And how is it that you have this abnormal strength to fight them?"

Buffy smiles at him "Sorry, it's my turn, so why did you and your friends go threw the 'make you go crazy tunnel'? Was it by choice or did someone or something force all of you threw?"

"Is that two question?" Robert mutters and then answers "It wasn't by choice, it was an accident" Robert then remember that there might have been someone in the control room "or at least I think it was"

"Okay, your turn" Buffy said in a way that you would think this was a game to her

"Look, forget about the questions, if you let me use your phone, we can be out of your hair in no time"

Buffy had a disappointed look "It's on the end table to your left"

Robert picks up the cordless phone and then says "I'm sorry, were you enjoying our little conversation?"

"Just a little"

Robert laughs a little and then says "Well, for what it's worth, thank you"

Buffy is confused "For what?"

"For bring us to a safe place when we were vulnerable"

"What make you think you and your friends were brought here for your safety"

"For whatever reason, thanks anyways"

Buffy smiles back and Robert dials Logan's cell number. After a few rings, someone picks up "Dominos Pizza, may I take your order?"

"Excuse me?" Robert said back

"Dominos Pizza, may I take your order?" the voice on the other end repeats

"Sorry, wrong number" Robert replies and hangs up.

Robert is about to try and dial Logan's number again, when someone enters the room

"Is everything okay in here?" Xander asked as he enters the room, he had a magazine rolled up in his right hand

"Hi, Xander, everything is fine" Buffy answers "Oh, and this is Robert, Robert this is Xander"

Robert nods towards Xander "Nice to meet you"

Xander wasn't so nice in his greeting "Well I would say the same if it wasn't for the fact you attack my friend last night"

"Xander! He was the one that didn't attack us!"

"Oh, right, the…cutie" Xander accidentally overheard Buffy tell Willow that she thought this one was cute

Buffy face turns red with embarrassment "XANDER!"

Xander realizes he had a slip of the tongue "Oh sorry"

"Whatever…just go check on Spike" Buffy replies annoyingly

"Right" Xander says and then leaves the room

Buffy rolls her eyes at him and then looks at Robert and sees a huge grin on his face "Don't look too much into that…I just think you're cute, that's all, a girl can think someone is cute and not mean anything else besides just cute"

"I understand" Robert said and is about to dial the number, but suddenly stop and adds "However, having a beautiful woman such as yourself say I'm cute…well it can't help but stroke the ego"

Buffy blushes again "Uh, thanks"

Robert smiles back and then dials the number again, after a few seconds, he hangs up again "Dam, wrong number again" Robert thinks for a moment and then asks "Where are we?"

"Uh, my house"

"No, what city…or area code"

"Well, we're in Sunnydale" Buffy answered

"Sunnydale? Where's that?"

Buffy was looking at him strangely, did he really not know where he was "Southern California"

Robert was shocked "You drove us to Southern California!"

"No…we've always been here…where did you think we were?"

"Seattle"

"Wow, that was some long tunnel you when threw"

"Of course, we must have gotten teleported here…this is a problem, if he can teleport people this far, then there's no getting away"

"Who's this person you're trying to get away from?" Buffy asked

Robert playfully smiles at her "Now, now, you forget, it's still my turn. But I'll tell you this, he's a very bad man"

Robert begins to dial a number and Buffy notices that he is punching a few extra numbers and asks "Uh, are you making a long distances call?"

Robert puts the phone to his ear and answer "No, of course not, and even if I was, I would pay you back"

As Xander heads down the stairs to the basement, he sees Spike sitting at the bottom of the stair, messing around with a deck of cards.

At the other side of the basement, laying on a separate blankets, were the two that attacked Buffy and Spike last night. They were both still out and tie up with chains. They had their feet chained tightly together and their hands chained behind their backs.

Spike could hear and smell Xander coming "What do you want, Harris?"

Spike didn't like Xander and Xander didn't like Spike. Despite the fact Spike had a chip in his head that prevented him from hurting people, Xander still saw him as dangerous. Spike didn't like Xander because he was always being a jackass towards him.

"Buffy wanted me to check on you" Xander replied "You know, make sure you're not sampling our guest"

"Whatever" Spike says as he stands up "Watch them over them while I go get some coffee" Spike doesn't wait for a reply; he just starts up the stair

"Well, since you asked so nicely" Xander sarcastically said as he sits down and unrolls his magazine

Spike stops half way up, looks back and asks "What do you have there?"

Xander shows him the magazine "FHM"

After seeing the magazine Spike continues up the stairs and mutters "pervert"

Xander hears him and yells back at Spike as he was going threw the door "Yeah, this coming from someone who had a Buffy robot build so he could have sex with it!!"

Xander goes back to his FHM while muttering to himself "Calling me a pervert…it's not like I have a playboy"

Xander begins flipping threw his FHM, but then his eyes are drawn to the woman sleeping on the blanket. He notices how beautiful she looks sleeping there and how peaceful she looks; it was hard to imagine that this woman had attack Buffy last night. Another though enters Xander's head, it was interesting that the guy up stair is awake and these two aren't.

Robert looks at the phone confusingly, he had dialed the right area code and number for Logan's cell, but he got some woman named Maria. So then he tried Logan's apartment number and ended up getting someone named Avery.

"Maybe your friend chanced his numbers" Buffy said

"Both of them" Robert replies and then sees a magazine on the table. It was a 'People' magazine. Robert picks it up and thinks 'Wow, I've haven't see one of these around in a long time' If fact he had only see one in the periodical section of a library, 'People' magazine when out of business, he didn't know when, but it was a long time back. He then notices the date on it 'Oct. 01' "So you're in to collecting old magazines"

"What are you talking about, it's only a month old" Buffy replied

Robert laughs first as if she was joking and then notices that she's not "But the date on it is October 2001"

"Yeah, and its November…2001"

"No it isn't"

Buffy gives him an amused look "Alright, I'll bite, what date is it?"

"It's 2021 of March"

Buffy sighs and thinks 'great, cute but crazy'

Spike walks into the kitchen and nearly into the sunlight shining threw the window. He quickly ducks to the side, and then sees Giles sitting on a barstool at the kitchen island drinking a cup of coffee "The coffee still hot?"

Giles nods toward the coffee pot on the counter "Just made it"

As Spike walks over and pours himself a cup, he asks "So what do you think of Buffy bring those three here?"

Giles takes a sip of his coffee and then answers "Well, they are supernatural or something of the sort, so she couldn't just as well bring them to the police"

"Yeah, but leaving the one untied, now even you have to agreed that wasn't smart"

Before Giles could reply, the back door open and Dawn walks in, she had a smile on her face and nearly a bounce in her step as she greets them "Good Morning"

Giles was surprised to see her "Dawn, what are you doing here? You were told that we would call you when it was safe to come home"

Dawn replies "Yeah, but Anya started talking about stuff she did when she was a demon…you know, with the vengeance and death, and the way I figured it, it was safe, or you were all in trouble…either way, it would be a whole lot better then hearing about her past vengeance deeds" Dawn thinks for a second and then adds "I probably should have told Anya I left"

Spike looks at Giles and says "Since she's back, we should tie up the other too"

"You don't have to worry" Giles says "The other has been awake for some time and hasn't caused any trouble"

Right after Giles told him the update, Spike put down his cup and runs out the room.

Giles puts down his cup and says to Dawn "Call Anya, let her know you're here"

Spike enters the living to see Robert looking shocked as he was kneeled down in front of the TV, Buffy standing behind him.

Robert was in complete shocked, after Buffy told him the date, he didn't believe her at first, even with the magazine in front of him. That is when he decided to check the TV for any channels that gave the time and date. All the channels that did, confirmed what Buffy said. Even Fox's news, which was a surprise in itself, because there wasn't a Fox's new channel anymore, at least not in his time. After that, he told her everything, about his friends and he being from the future, about them being transgenics and about the accident which he now believes is the cause of them being here. Robert wasn't completely sure why he told her everything, but he guess it had to do with the fact that since they are in the past, they were alone and needed friends. Of course there was a little voice in the back of his head that said 'you're altering the time line'. Right now, he was watching the weather channel, not for the day's weather, but the time and date at the bottom of the screen.

Buffy didn't know what to believe, on one hand, stranger things have happen, but on the other hand, he could just be crazy, perhaps a after effect from the red lights.

It was then that Buffy notices Spike "Need something, Spike?"

"Just making sure everything's okay, love" Spike answered

"Everything's just…fine, I guess" Buffy replied

"Manticore!" Robert suddenly said

"That government agency that created all of you" Buffy said

"Created you?! Government agency?! Oh bloody hell, not again!" Spike said

"Spike, quite" Buffy said to Spike and then looks at Robert "So what about it?"

"They've been around for a long time" Robert said "I can give you the address for the building just outside of Seattle, if you know someone who's a computer hack, you can look it up"

Buffy thinks for a moment, Willow wouldn't have a problem looking it up. Buffy then says to Robert "Why is it so important that I believe you?"

Robert answers "Because we're alone here, so we'll need some help and you seem like you've seen a lot and could help us"

Buffy could understand not wanting to be alone, so she decides to go along with it.

Xander was sitting at the bottom step, reading his magazine when his attention was caught by the young woman stirring in her sleep. After seeing that she was okay, he goes back to his magazine, but seconds later, she stirs in her sleep again. Xander puts down his magazine and stares at the sleeping beauty. She stirs again and shifts her position a little. Xander stands up and thinks that maybe she's having a nightmare. He begins to walk over to her and thinks about just gentle wake her up from it, which probably wasn't the best idea, but at the moment he was mesmerized by her beauty.

As Xander was slowly kneeling down next to her, a previous thought reenters his mind 'Robert is awake, but these two aren't'. It was then that Xander suddenly realizes what's going on and just in time. Max's eyes shot open, and Xander pulls back and just barely misses the swing of her legs that was meant to knock him out. Xander dodges the swing, but stumbles backwards and falls on his butt.

Max gives Xander an innocent look and says "Oh sorry, I was having a nightmare" Xander just stares at her and when he doesn't say anything back, Max stretches to make her breasts stick out more "I have an itch I can't reach, could you get it for me, please"

Xander responses with a burst of nervous laughter right before he says "I don't think that would be a good idea"

Suddenly the man next to her, Alec, starts laughing and says "I think you're loosing you're touch, Max"

Xander wonders how long they've been awake for, waiting for an opportunity to strike "No, it's not that, I want to…well, scratch her itch…it's just that…when a beautiful woman starts acting sexual around me, it usually means she wants to do something bad to me. I'm not exactly the catch of the day"

With a serious expression, Max looks him over "Don't sell yourself short, you've got a lot going for you"

Xander again burst out in nervous laughter, he believes she was trying to play him again, but the expression on her face didn't change and he then realizes that maybe she wasn't. He stops laughing, but then shakes the thought out of his head "You're good" He then stands up and runs up the stairs while yelling "Buffy, their awake!!"

Max looks around and says "Where's Robert?"

"I hope the vampires didn't get him" Alec said with concern

"What?! Vampires, there no such thing as vampires!"

"Actually there is, and if you would have stayed in Manticore longer, you would have learn about vampires, monsters and all sorts of subterranean creatures…anyways, what do you thing that blonde chick was fighting last night, it wasn't a transgenic"

Thirty seconds later, Buffy, with Robert following behind, came walking down the stairs.

Max wasn't happy "Oh, I see, we've been stuck down here, while you've been sitting easy up stairs"

Robert knew that the comment was aimed towards him "No, it's not what you think"

Alec wasn't happy either "I think there's some explaining to be done"

Buffy comes to his defense "He's been busy convincing me you're not dangerous people, which after all he's said, seems to be undone by you turning on him" Buffy looks at Robert "Their suppose to be your friends…friends don't turn on each other that easily"

Max was getting more upset "I'm not turning on him, I just want to know why we're tied…well, more like chain up, and he's not…and anyways, how the hell are you?!"

Buffy wasn't liking her attitude "Who the hell am I! I'm the one kick your butt last night!"

"How about you untie me, and we'll have a little rematch!!"

"Ladies!" Robert interrupts "We need to calm down right now"

Alec was laughing as he says "No, let them go at each other…two hot chicks fighting could get interesting"

Robert looks at Alec annoyingly "You're not helping, Alec" he then looks at Max "Max, this is Buffy, and the only reason your tied…I mean chained up, is because you and Alec when a little nuts last night…so it was for safety reasons…I guess I went a little nuts too, just not enough. Now if you would just calm down and prove you're not nuts anymore, then we'll unchain you and Alec. Also remember, Buffy didn't have to bring us here, she could have just left us in the middle of that graveyard, passed out and all"

Max rolls her eyes "I'm not nuts…just a little pissed"

Alec adds "Hey, I'm cool over here"

Robert says to Buffy "See, their fine"

Buffy nods to Robert and then pulls out the keys from her pocket and gives them to him.

As Robert takes the key and walks over to Max, no one took notices to Willow entering and only coming down a few steps.

As Robert kneels down next to Max to unlock her, he says "There is something else you need to know" He finishes unlocking her arms, and then starts on the legs "Now, this is going to be hard to believe" He unlocks her legs and helps her to her feet "And I'm just going to say it…We're somehow traveled back in time"

Max and Alec both say at the same time "WHAT!?"

"Yeah, like I said, It's hard to believe, but its true" Robert response "and that's all there is to it"

"Actually there's more" Willow added, catching everyone's attention

Thirty minutes later, they were all up in the kitchen with disbelief looks on there faces, none of them knew what to say. Willow had gone over the search again and tried many different ways, and even had help from the three visitors, but the end was still the same, there was no Manticore. This didn't exactly help Robert's story. During the search, Buffy also told and explain to the newcomers about her being a slayer and what a slayer does, plus explain about Spike having a chip in his head that prevented him from hurting people, which was after Robert and Alec noticed Spike was a vampire, but that's not what had them silent at the moment, it was the fact they couldn't find Manticore. Manticore had been around for a long time, plus they hadn't been in the past long enough to cause something to happen to it.

The silence was finally broken by Buffy's sister, Dawn walking into the kitchen "Buffy, how much longer do I…" When Dawn's eyes locks on Alec, she forgot about her complain to Buffy "Oh, hi" Dawn gave him a smile and a wave

Buffy rolls her eyes and she grabs Dawn by the arm then drags her out the room while saying "Dawn, not now"

Everyone could hear them arguing in the hallway.

"I'm not going to stay in my room" Dawn said

"Fine, go to the living room, go to the dinning room…just stay out of the kitchen for now" Buffy said back

"I'm not a little kid, Buffy, stop treating me like one"

"Then stop acting like one, Dawn"

They then heard Dawn give an angry moan followed by sound of her storming off. Seconds later, Buffy walks back into the kitchen "Sorry about that"

"No need to apologize" Max replied

"Yeah, let's just get back to the subject at hand" Alec says "Why can't Red find Manticore?"

Willow was a little offended "Hey, it's not that I can't find them, it's because there is nothing there to find"

"Have you tried everything you can?" Alec asked

"Everything I can before I risk getting caught" Willow answered "I'm good, but only so good"

"Well, what else can you try?" Alec asked

"No, Alec" Max interrupted "Willow, has done more then we could ask" she looks towards Willow "Thank you"

Willow smiles back "You're welcome"

"Hey, I've got a theory" Xander said, everyone looks at him and he waits for a response, but doesn't get one "Does anyone want to hear it?"

"That's why everyone looking at you" Buffy said

"Oh, right…well, I was thinking that perhaps your all from an alternate reality, like on Star Trek" Xander said

"Is that the one with the evil Han Solo?" Alec asked

"No, Han Solo is Star Wars and there was no evil Solo" Xander says with matter of fact tone "Plus you're think of the original Star Trek and the evil Spock, I'm talking about the 'The Next Generation' one where Wolf travels to all those alternate realities where certain things are different do to different decisions being made…you guys know the episode"

The room was so silent; you could almost hear the cricket. Xander looks at Willow "Come on, Will, you know the episode"

Willow got nervous, she was once a Star Trek geek, a part of her past she didn't want know "Huh, well…anyways, he does have a good explanation, they could be from an alternate dimension…or reality"

"Your right, that is a good theory, Xander" Giles said

Xander smiles "I was due"

Giles continues "There are so many other dimensions; it's only reasonable that there be an alternate reality in the mix…there could even be a few or more"

Buffy stood there listening to what sounds like her friends believing the new visitors' story and it wasn't that she didn't believe them; it's just that she had her doubts. Doubts that at the moment, didn't seem to be shared by the others.

"That doesn't explain why we're in the past" Max said

"Actually it could" Giles says "traveling threw dimensions can be a tricky thing, if done wrong, there is no telling where you could end up. The three of you could have been heading to just an alternate reality, our future, and something went wrong and it caused all of you to end up in an alternate reality's past"

"Or perhaps they were heading to their own past" Willow says "and something caused them to end up in our past"

"Oh, yes, that way too" Giles said

"Hold on" Max says "You make it sound like we did it on purpose, let me remind you that it was an accident"

"That's not what we're implying" Giles said

Willow adds "We're just trying to figure out what's going on here, sorry if we offended you"

Max felt bad "No, I'm sorry; this whole situation has made me a little…edgy"

"It's alright, you're doing a lot better then most would in your situation" Willow said

Max sighs "I guess…but one thing for certain…I have to see it with my own eyes"

"See what?" Spike asked

"See that there's no Manticore" Max answered "I need to go there and see it for myself"

"I'm with you on that" Robert said

"Yeah, me too, I guess" Alec reluctantly adds himself

Later, everyone was taking a lunch break except for Max, who was on the back pouch looking up at the sky. To Max, the sky was a lot more blue here, and it wasn't just do to the fact that it rains a lot in Seattle, it was do to the fact that there is a lot more pollution in the future from which she came from.

The back door opens and Max turns to see Buffy heading out.

As Buffy closes the door behind her, she asks "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really" Max answered and then says "Hey, I'm sorry for attacking you"

"Don't worry about it, you weren't in control" Buffy had noticed that Max seems a lot more cooled down then she did in the basement, maybe being chained up didn't agree with her

"Thanks…so, you're a slayer"

"Yep"

"Did you choose it or did it choose you?" Max asked

"It chose me, I had no decision in it" Buffy answers "I was a normal girl before it"

"Oh…well, I've always been a transgenic, but after I escape, I tried at a normal life and it was going okay…as okay a life of a cat burglar can be, but then I met him and he was all about 'fight the good fight' and that's when things got complicated again"

"Met who?"

"Logan"

"Oh, the guy Robert was trying to call"

"That's him, and don't get me wrong, he's a good guy and he's always trying to do the right thing and I'm helping him by choice, but sometimes I just wanna leave it all behind and try and be normal"

Buffy could relate "I know what you mean, I actually tried running away from it all, but I just ended up back here…There are times when I think about running away again, but then I realize that I want to stay, I want to fight the good fight. Also, if I never became a slayer, then I would have never met Xander, Willow, or Giles. The three of them are like family to me…plus I'm a dam good slayer"

Max nods back which was followed by a moment of silence between them. Finally Max says "You still don't believe we're from an alternate future, do you"

Buffy tries to look for a way to answer her "Well, it's not that I don't…it's…I've seen some strange out of the world things and…well, time travel just isn't one of them, but come to thing of it, some of the other things I've seen, I wouldn't have believe it before, so part of me believes you, but…you know what, all of me believes you. I mean if there can be such a thing as a human demon cyborg, then why not people from an alternate future…however, I still have a few doubts, sorry"

"No, don't be, if our positions were reverse, I would probably have more doubts then you" Max then changes the subject "So that blonde guy name Spike, did he really build a robot version of you to get his freak on with"

Buffy was shocked and embarrassed to hear that "Oh god, who told you that?"

Max could see she was embarrassed "it's okay, you don't have to tell me about it…but at least tell me about the human demon cyborg, that sounds more freaky then anything I've ever dealt with"

Buffy laughs "Sure, no problems, so do you want to hear the whole story; or the short version?"

TBC


	4. Chapter 4: Believe It or Not

Outsiders

Chapter 4: Believe it or not

Around the time Robert was telling Buffy everything, Ames White was waking up in the abandon office building he found the night before. As he opens his eyes, he found that he wasn't alone, kneeling right in front of him, looking him straight in the eye, was a certain blonde woman he met last night.

"Good morning, sleepy head" The First in the form of Buffy said

"Why don't you just leave me alone" Ames said annoyingly as he rubs his head, he felt like he had just woke up after a long night of drinking.

"Oh, is this how you talk to the only friend you have here"

"I don't want or need your friendship"

"You might wanna to rethink that" First (Buffy) said

"And why is that?" Ames said with sarcasm

"Well, lets see, maybe because you are stuck in an alternate past, with no allies, all by yourself, I'm all you got"

"I may be in your alternate past, which I don't completely believe, but there are still people I can call for help"

"Oh, are you talking about your little snake cult? Oh they don't exist here, as well as that mutant producing factory"

Ames returns a look indicating that he didn't believe it.

"If you don't believe me, come check it out yourself" The First (Buffy) said

Ames now had an uncertain look.

"Come on, if you can't trust me" The First morphs from Buffy to Ames "Then trust yourself"

"That's not funny" Ames angrily said back

The First (Ames) begins to laugh

Two days later, Max, Alec and Robert stood on the hillside over looking the spot where Manticore should be, but there was a simple farm. Two days ago, after Max had say she needed to see this area for herself, Giles decided to help and use his contact to get them some fake ID's and even gave them some money for the bus ride up here as well as some extra spending cash. After the bus ride, they rented a car to drive the rest of the way.

Giles wasn't the only one that was being helpful, Buffy had offered them a place to stay, that place was her basement, but hey, they didn't have any other place.

They all stood on the hilltop, in silence, looking down at the farm. Sure it was one thing to hear it, but seeing it, that had an even bigger shock.

Alec was the first to get over his shock, and express his feelings "Alright!" he said joyfully.

His joyfulness wasn't share with Max "Alright?! You're actually happy about this?"

Alec looks at Max like she was nuts "Of course I am, why aren't you?"

"Because we're stuck in the past, in fact we're stuck in a past that's not even our own! This means our chances of getting home are less then before!"

"Home?! Why the hell would we go home? This world is paradise compared to the hell that is our home. There's no Manticore, probably no snake cult, and this place isn't a third world junk yard, and since it isn't our past, we don't have to worry about altering our future"

Max was really disappointed in Alec "You're forgetting our friends, they need our help"

"I'm sure they'll do fine without us" Alec responded

Max sighs and then looks towards Robert "Could you talk some sense into him?"

Before Robert could say anything, Alec says "No, no, don't turn to him, we know he's just gonna side with you like he always does!"

"And why is that?!" Max asked

"Yeah, why is that, Alec?" Robert asked, eyeing him with a not too friendly look, a look that Alec saw

Alec knew he just backed himself into a corner, he rubs that back of his neck as he looks away and mutters "Because you're her bitch" As he looks back up, he suddenly sees Robert standing in front of him with a huge smile on his face that made Alec a little scared. His fears were justified as suddenly Robert punches him stomach, dropping him to his knees. Robert then turns around and starts back down the hill towards the rental car. Alec calls out to him "Robert, wait" but unfortunately for him, the wind is still knocked you of him and he can barely speak.

Max sighs and shakes her head at Alec "Tell me, are you not gonna be happy until you pissed everyone off" She then runs to catch up with Robert "Robert, wait up" Robert stops and turns around, he did not look happy. Max stops just short of him and says "Look, tell us what you think, what you really think"

Robert thinks for a moment, looking off into the distances, and then says "Well, we definitely need to find a way home and Willow and Giles could help, but that may take some time, so we should take Buffy up on her offer to stay at her home…of course I don't wanna feel like we're sponging off of her, so I think we should find jobs and pay some sort of rental fee"

Max smiles "That's a good idea"

Robert sees Alec slowly walk up next Max, his arms were still wrapped around his stomach "and if you ever call me her bitch again, I'll knock the holy hell out of you. I gave you the first two, but this was strike three, let's not go to a forth" Robert knew of two other times he overheard Alec calling him 'Max's Bitch'; he just didn't confront him until now.

"Gotcha" Alec said, he was bending over a little from the pain

Max laughs and accidentally says "Well, actually that was the forth" She then sees the angry look in Robert's eyes and quickly steps in between him and Alec "But anyways, why don't we start heading back"

The other two nodded in agreement.

The three of them start back down the hill together and Alec says "You know, I'm hungry, how about go get something to eat first"

"I don't know, I really wanna get going" Max said

As Max and Alec continue to talk, they didn't notice Robert suddenly stop. Robert suddenly had a weird feeling come over him and it was coming from the woods not too far to his left. It almost felt like a warning, but a little fuzzy. He didn't see anyone over there, even with his enchanted vision, but it also felt like something was trying to block his senses.

"Hey, Robert, what's wrong?" Max yelled to him from the car

Robert focus was broken and he replies "Nothing" and then mutters to himself "I think" He then continues to the car. As he gets there, Max gets in the driver's seat and Alec is about to take shoot gun until Robert says "Alec, wait"

"What?" Alec responded

"Something just ran behind the car, you approach it from your side and I'll get it from the other side"

Alec was a little confused by what was going on, but the spooked look on Robert's face meant he must have saw something, so he carefully starts walking toward the back of the car, but as he gets to the backseat door, Robert quickly jumps in the passenger side.

Alec realizes he's been tricked "Son of a bitch!"

Max laughs "I can't believe you fell for something so obvious"

Alec decides not to attempt to get the front seat back and just hoops in the back. As he shuts the door behind him he says to Robert "Have you ever hear of the boy who cried wolf"

"Oh come on, you got the front seat on the ride up here" Robert replied

"Whatever, lets just get out of here, and please stop somewhere to eat, I'm really hungry"

"Fine, we'll see what's on the way" Max said

As the car drove away, Ames White walks out of the woods feeling a little relieved, because for a moment it looked as if Robert knew he was here. Although he would never admit it and never show it, he was afraid of him.

Ames walks up the hill and when he gets to the top, he is shocked by what he sees.

"See, what did I tell you, no mutant factory" A familiar voice said from just behind him and as Ames turns around, he nearly jumps back in fear, at first it seemed like Robert was standing right behind him, but he quickly realizes that it's just the First in Robert's form "What? Did I scare you?"

"Don't take that form" Ames ordered with anger in his voice

"Sorry, you don't order me around, plus I like this form, it's quickly becoming my second favor, mainly because it strikes a little fear in you" The First (Robert) replied

"And here I thought you wanted to be my friend"

"Yeah, but I'm still evil, and you know when I said 'friend', I meant team up against common enemies"

Ames looks at him amusingly "Common enemies?"

"Well not so much common as more like your enemies are about to team with my enemies and if we join together we can wipe them all out at once" Despite what The First (Robert) said, Ames was giving him an uncertain look, so it continues "Look, you can keep trying to get a hold of that little snake cult of yours, which doesn't exist here and so you'll be on the street with no money and no place to stay, or you can join me, and I can offer you money and a place to stay. And once we're dealt with our enemies, I can offer you a way home"

Ames continues to stare at it for a few more seconds and the First (Robert) finally says "Well, say something"

Ames responds by asking "Can you take any form?"

The First (Robert) laughs and answers "Only the dead, or those who were once dead"

Ames was confused "Wait, you took my form and I'm not dead…or never been dead"

"Well, funny thing, when you and your friend were being teleported here, you were all in a sort of dead state, which is getting technical, but hey, it's given me four new forms"

"What good is looking like all these people if you can't touch anything?"

The First (Robert) laughs again "Just because I can't touch anything doesn't mean I can't do any damage, I do have hordes and hordes of worshippers"

Ames sneers "Just so we're clear, I'm your partner, not a worshipper"

"Of course"

On the way back to the bus station, Max, Alec, and Robert stopped off at a nice little street side dinner to eat. The place wasn't busy, so it was easy for them to find a secluded booth to sit in. When Robert sat next to Max, opposite of Alec, it was apparent that he was still mad at him. Max ordered the grill chicken, Robert ordered a turkey sandwich, and Alec decided on a hamburger and fries. They were currently waiting for their orders.

"Now this is nice" Alec said with a smile "A friendly little dinner, good food, or at least I think its good food, we'll find out soon enough"

"You know they have places like these at home" Max said

"Yeah, but not this nice" Alec responded

"You know, Alec, for all your boast on how great this world is" Max said "There heading down the same road as ours, and will end up just as bad"

"How do you know?" Alec asked

"I've been paying attention to the news" Max answered

"So have I" Robert added

"Yeah, well, it isn't going to be as bad because the two of you are forgetting one thing, there's no Manticore to try pull us back in cages"

"Whatever" Max said rolling her eyes at him

"You're what's the most confusing part about this" Alec said with frustration to Max "You've spent all that time running, and now finally you don't have to run anymore, you wanna go back to running"

"Not at the sacrifice of my friends and family" Max responded with the same frustration

"Logan, Joshua and the rest of them will be fine" Alec responded, raising his voice a little more then it needs to be

"Alec, quite down, and stop brushing Max's worries aside" Robert said to Alec, and Alec rolls his eyes at him. Robert then turns to Max and says "And how about you let up on him and let him enjoy this place while he can" Max was a little shock "Now there is no telling how long we'll be here, and I, for one, would like Buffy to think we're one happy family and not a bunch of jerks that could possible keep her up ever night by having yelling matches"

There was a moment of quite between the three before Max says to Robert "I see your point…I'm sorry Alec, I guess we can look at this as a vacation"

Alec sighs and says "Yeah, I'm sorry too, I guess I can see why we need to get home"

Robert gives a fake smile "Now isn't that better" before he could continues the waitress came with their food, after placing their food in front of them, the three of them told the waitress 'Thank you' and she said 'Welcome' before heading off. Once she was out of ear shot, Robert continues "as I was about to say, let's try and keep it civil, especial in Buffy's house, the last thing I wanna start getting from her is that 'You've worn out your welcome' feeling"

"Let's not forget, we're sleeping in the basement" Alec said

"Beggars can't be choosers; it's a lot better then sleeping out on the street"

"Yeah…and no different then where I was living before, but at least we get a nice sunny upstairs to go…" Alec stop talking when he suddenly notice the look on Max's face, a look she was giving Robert

Robert takes notice to the look and says to Max "What?"

"Nothing" Max said and then goes back to her food, however there was something, something that Robert just said that kind of bothered her a little, it was the 'worn out your welcome feeling'. After Max rescued Robert from Manticore, he stayed with her at her place, until her roommate, Original Cindy, had her ex-girlfriend temporarily back in the picture and bunking at the place for awhile. With three women there, Robert started feeling a little uncomfortable and asked Logan if he could stay at his place for awhile and was going to move back after OC's girlfriend left. However, when she did leave, in a very unfortunate way, but that's another story, Robert never came back. She never asked why, but now she's wondering if she might have accidentally gave him an unwelcome feeling.

"Oh yuck" Alec said with disgust as he lifts the top part of burger bun to reveal a thick layer of grease "I guess some things aren't better here, well I still have my fries"

Robert laughs "you can have half of my sandwich" and offers him half

"Thanks, man" Alec takes half "I guess the food is the same" he then bits into his half of the sandwich

"There is just one thing I've got to know" Max said "Why didn't either of you tell me about vampires and…demons"

"Hey, don't ask me" Robert said "I just remembered them when I saw them in the graveyard" Due to Robert's memory lost, certain info only comes to him on the spot, only he doesn't know where he learned it from, like how he can speak many different languages but he has no memory of when he learned to speak them.

"As far as I go" Alec said "It's just never came up, and besides, if you would have stayed at Manticore longer, they would have eventually taught you about them"

Max rolls her eyes at him "Yeah, okay"

The gang made it back to Buffy's house late the next day, currently they were all in the kitchen with Buffy, Giles, Willow, Anya, and Xander, all drinking one beverage or another. Again, they were all in silence after what Buffy had told them about what had happen while they were gone. It was just one big shocker after another.

This time, it was Max that broke the silence "Now let me get this straight, after a spell was cast, a demon was summoned, who caused the whole town to break into a number of songs and dances like something out of a musical, and now that it's all over, everything is back to normal and nobody in town, excluding you guys, has stopped and said 'What the fuck just happened?'"

"Yeah…that's basically what happened" Buffy said

"And you had a hard time believing we're from an alternate future"

Buffy suddenly sees her point "You know what, I totally believe you now"

"I believe from the beginning" Xander said to Max with a smile

"I still don't believe any of you" Anya said in a spiteful way; however she didn't care if they were or not, she just didn't like the way Xander was looking at Max. And she did have a right to feel that way considering Xander was her soon to be husband, of course the attitude towards Max wasn't necessary

"Alright then" Robert says "I guess we're all in agreement…except for one, so about that offer to room here"

"Oh, it's still open" Buffy said "Just as long as you don't mind staying in the basement, sorry, all my other rooms are taken"

"Hey, no problem, it was overly kind of you to let us stay in house…and we'll pay a rental fee"

"Oh no, that's not necessary"

"It really is" Max says "We don't know how long we'll be here, and I don't wanna be sponging off you the whole time"

"Well, I guess I could use the extra cash" Buffy said

"And hey, I'll work my hardest on finding a way home for all of you" Willow said

"Well, I guess that's one less favor we have to ask" Alec said "But don't work yourself too hard, Willow"

"Oh, no, that's okay; I always put my best effort forward"

"Yeah, but I'm sure you already have a lot on your plate, I don't want our problem to slow you down"

"It won't slow me down, in fact I'm looking forward to helping, it seems like a real challenge…the only problem is where to start" Willow looks towards Giles "Do you know where?"

"I may have a few ideas" Giles answered

Alec was about to say another 'don't worry too much about it' comments, but Max cut him off "Alec…"

Alec mutters "I know, I know"

Buffy, who was standing next to Robert, looks at him and asks "Are they always like this?" she was referring to Max and Alec

Robert got a little nervous "No, No, there're really like brother and sister…but in the good, loving each other way, not the hating always arguing way, trust me their usually quite…it's just the stress of the situation that's making act like this"

Buffy was amused by his rambling "Relax, I was just asking"

Max and Alec start to laugh at Robert and Robert return an annoying laugh at them.

A few hours later, everyone, including Dawn, Spike, and Tara, was in the basement, straightening it up. All Buffy had was sleeping bags, so Giles told them that he was going to go to the department store and buy the three of them each a folding bed, Max told him that they would pay him back. Giles had returned forty five minutes ago, and then they all started on the cleaning. Buffy brought down her CD player and it was playing Xander's 'Korn' CD, one of Alec's favorite bands. This, however, wasn't one of Robert's favorites.

Robert and Alec were hanging up curtains in the back end of the room, separating up the folding beds which would give each of them a little privacy.

At one point, Robert couldn't take the Korn music anymore "Okay, that's it, would someone please turn off that 'so called' music and put one something good"

"This is good music" Alec responded "What, would you rather that old junk you listen to, 'Rolling Stones'"

"Hey, Korn might not be as old, but it's still old"

Alec smiles "Old in our world, but you forget, we're in the past and Korn is new here"

"Oh, shut up, this still sucks!"

"They seem to go at it as much as you and Alec" Buffy said to Max and laughs

"Only when it comes to music…and football…and video games…and a few other guy things, but don't worry they'll keep it down" Max answered

"Oh, I'm not worried about them being loud, there's good installation down here, and besides Dawn and I argue a lot louder then that"

Giles and Xander had been drawn into the music argument.

"Now I have to agree with Robert" Giles said "Rolling Stones do have more talent…plus they can write songs that don't include offensive language"

Xander was on Alec's side "Yeah that sounds like something someone who was up their in age would say"

"What are you implying, Xander" Giles said back

"Just like it sounds" Xander replied

"Yeah, that's telling him, Xander" Alec said "I bet back in his old British college days, Giles sat in his dorm room listening to Rolling Stones records, talking with his pals how they would always rock, however they were just a bunch of stuffy geeks"

"Oh no" Buffy says with a laugh "He shouldn't have gone there"

Xander backs off "Oh, you're on your own on this one, Alec"

"What?" Alec said, a little confused

Giles had a very dangerous smile as he walks up to Alec "If you truly knew what I did in my youth it would give even you nightmares, understood solider boy"

Alec was a little shocked and, from Robert could tell, had a little fear in his eyes "Yeah…I understand, but hey, I was just joking with you"

Robert laughs "He was just joking, Giles, he just doesn't have that filter in his head that stops him from says the bad jokes…and asshole remakes"

"Indeed" Giles replied

"Don't let it get under your skin" Robert said "So anyways, Giles, you and I should get together and talk music, good music that is, I take it you like 'The Who'"

Giles's smile returns to a pleasant one "In fact I do"

Buffy laughs a little at the event and then says to Max "Well, I'm out, I'll be back before dawn"

"Wait" Max says "Where're you going?"

"Just patrolling, you know, look for vampires, slay vampires"

"Need some company?"

"Well…if you want, but I don't want you to feel like you have to"

"Nonsense" Robert says as he walks up to them "It would be a great chance to see the town"

Buffy smiles "If you mean seeing the town as in seeing a bunch of cemeteries, then yeah"

Robert smiles back "Cool, bunch of cemeteries, alright lets go"

"Then let's get going…wait, what about your 'old music rocks' discussion with Giles"

Robert nods back to where Giles and Alec are now talking "He's back to arguing with Alec about it"

Buffy laughs "In that case, let's get you out of here before you get pulled back in"

Max had noticed how Buffy's whole demeanor had changed when Robert offered to tag along, from 'wasn't so sure' when she offer to 'smiling and love for you to come' when Robert offered. As Buffy and Robert walk past her and head up the stairs, Max says "Uh, Can I come with? Or would I just be in the way?"

Buffy stops and looks back "Oh, yeah, the more the merrier"

About forty minutes later, the three of them were in one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries.

There hadn't been any vampire activity and Max was talking to Buffy about her employment choices "The only job I've ever had, well real job…that couldn't be considered illegal, was bike messenger, but I have other skills and I don't want to go back to being a bike messenger" Max suddenly notices that Buffy might not be paying attention, she sees her looking at back at Robert, who was trailing a number of feet behind them. Max gets her attention by speaking up a little louder "SO, what do you think?"

Buffy jumps to attention "About what?"

"Oh never mind" Max said "I can see your attention is elsewhere"

"What? Oh no, I'm just wondering why he's trailing behind us?"

"He's covering our rear"

"Coving our rear?"

Max explains "Yeah, you see, you can take the soldier out of Manticore, but you can't take the soldier out of…well, the soldier" As she was talking, she could see Buffy's eyes daring back and forth from her to Robert. Max could tell this was more then just wondering why he was behind them, Buffy had a thing for him and Max would ask her about it, but she knew now wasn't the time because even though he was a distances behind them, she knew Robert could still hear them do to his advance genetic hear. Max wants to wait until they were alone.

Buffy turn back forward and says "Well, he really doesn't have to be back that far, there isn't a need for soldier like tactics when it comes to patrolling"

"Oh sorry, I'll remember that for next time" Robert said from right behind Buffy, making her jump because she didn't even hear him walk up behind her "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you"

"That's okay, but sneak up on me like that again, and I'll start making you wear a cow bell" Buffy joked

"So, anything I need to know about slaying a vampire" Max asked "or is it just like the movies, stakes, garlic, crosses and holy water"

"Pretty much, expect for the crosses and holy water, that only works on vampires who were religious in their life before they were turned" Buffy answered "So I wouldn't rely on them too much"

"Speaking of vampires" Robert says "Here comes five of them now"

Five vampires wearing sports clothing and their game faces on were quickly moving their way. With their wooden stakes ready, Max, Buffy and Robert ran into battle, the vampires didn't know what hit them.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5: A Somewhat Normal Life

Outsiders

Chapter 5

A Somewhat Normal Life

Jacob had a great life; he was the star running back of Sunnydale University. He was a member of the best fraternity on campus. And now, he was heading back from a slammer party with a hot cheerleader, Tiffany. She was very much drunk, so his chances of scoring were very high.

There was some bad points, as far as tonight goes; they were walking down a very poorly light sidewalk at night. Tiffany was holding on to his arm, so drunk she could barely walk. And to add to it all, there was a thick fog all around them.

Suddenly, Tiffany lost her balance completely and fell to her knees. Jacob reaches down to pull her up and when he does, someone bumps into him from the front and knocks both him and Tiffany back down. It was some bum.

"Hey, what the fuck?! You need to watch where you're going!" Jacob yelled at him

"Sorry man" the bum said back

"You better be!" Jacob said as he got back up

The bum quickly walks off and disappears in the fog.

Jacob reaches to pick Tiff back up and half the way up, Tiff looses her balance again and pulls him down with her. As he sits up, Jacob starts to think that this was a bad idea; she was so drunk she could barely stand. Jacob sighs and decides to bring her home.

The bum wasn't actually a bum, he was a pick pocket, as he turns the corner and goes behind the Student Hall; he takes Jacob's wallet out and starts checking it. He finds fifty dollars worth of cash, a couple of credit cards, a bank card, and his driver's licenses. The pick pocket takes out the cash, and throws the wallet into the dumpster.

The pick pocket wasn't too happy about getting only fifty dollars out of the jock he just robbed, but wasn't to surprised. With credit cards and bank cards, people don't really carry much cash these days. To make matters worst the fog was now getting thicker and he could barely see a few feet in front him.

Suddenly from all around him, he starts to hear the sound of what he could only identify as metal bending over and over again as it got closer. The pick pocket starts becoming really afraid because he didn't know where it was coming from.

The sound was getting closer and closer, but still he couldn't tell which direction it was coming from until he felt a huge blade run him threw from behind. He looks down at the blade that sticking out of him, it started from the bottom of his chest and when all the way down to the bottom of his stomach. He couldn't move as whoever was holding the blade lifts it up, picking him off the ground. The pick pocket barely moves his head and looks behind him to see who's holding the weapon, and adds shock and disbelief to the huge amount pain and fear running threw him. It was some sort of man with a pyramid head that was pointy in the front. The man was also about twice the pick pocket size and wore nothing but an apron. That was the last thing the pick pocket saw, for seconds later he was dead.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Pyramid Head" The First (Robert) said as it appeared on the scene "Let me guess, their arrival attracted you here, however as nice as it is to have you visit Sunnydale, it's too early, so I'm gonna need you and your friend to leave for now. Don't worry, I'll send them to Silent Hill when their ready"

The First wasn't Pyramid Head's master, but he did know what it was, and knew not to cross it. Pyramid Head swung his blade, sending the dead pick pocket flying into a dumpster and then walks away and disappears in the fog.

The First (Buffy) sighs "Minions, I need you!" Two of the First's minions appear out of the fog "Take care of that dead man in the trash, the last thing I need is for the slayer to find out about him and start looking into what could have caused a stab wound that big"

The minions got to work right away.

There are different ways people wake up and greet the morning, it depends on what they did the night before, if they are a morning person, and how the slept the night before. Max didn't sleep much, it had to do with her DNA make up, she could go long periods of time without sleep, but there was times when her body was worn out and needed to rest and times when her mind needed some REM sleep. But usually she didn't need much sleep, which is why she's on top of Buffy's house.

Back home, she would go to a high spot look across the city and work things out. The top of Buffy's house was the highest spot she could get and she needed to work a few things out in her head. It had to do with what happen last night and all that has been happening. They were trapped in an alternate past and, as far as it seems right now, with no way home. Although Willow insists there's a way and she'll find it, it may be a while before she's able to find one, that's if one exists. This made her think about all her friends back home, and if their alright. And of course last night was on her mind as well and what they did after fighting vampires. Buffy brought them to the local hang out, the Bronze, which was a lot like Crashes, only cleaner, and a dance floor…and live music, okay maybe not all like Crashes. It was fun, and kind of made you wish there wasn't a way home, however she didn't want that line of thinking, and she needs to remember why they have to go back to their future.

Just a few minutes ago, Max had watched Dawn go off to school, and she heard Buffy say 'bye' from the front door. Max decides it about time to get off the roof and get some breakfast.

Robert wasn't that different from Max when it came to sleeping. But it wasn't when his body needed some caught up, it was more of a time limit that he had. He could go up to fours days and sometimes a day or two more before he needed to sleep. To get any sleep in between he would have to really tire himself out. Last night didn't come close and when he got back, he ended up just laying in bed with his eyes open. Now he was sitting up thinking about the whole situation, about being stuck here and if it was a good thing or bad.

He decides its time to go up stair. He had only his shirt and boxers on while he lay in bed and after he reaches for his pants and puts them on, he realizes that he and the other two had been wearing the same clothes for the past couple of days and it was time to get a change of clothes. The good thing was that he had some means in which to buy some new clothes, and it came from last night's battle with the vampires. When a vampire dies, it goes up in flaming ashes and anything on it goes as well, expect for anything metal and sometimes leather, which at times includes leather wallets and if the leather wallets survive, it ends up protecting the contents inside. Robert found a leather wallet had survived in the ashes of one of the vampires he slain. In the wallet was four hundred dollars and considering the vampire wasn't going to need it, he decided to take it. He spent forty of it at the Bronze, but that still gave them enough to buy at least a couple of changes of clothes.

Alec was different then Robert and Max, he could go a few days without sleep, but that was from training, not in his DNA mix like the other two. Right now he was face down, sleeping on his bed, wearing nothing but his boxers. There was also a blanket over him, but only half the way up. He was completely out, but Robert knew of a way to wake him, he takes his cash and lightly waves it over Alec's head. Without raising his head, Alec right hand tries to reach up and grab the money, but Robert was too quick and pulls it away in time.

"Good morning, Alec, time to get your lazy ass out of bed" Robert said

Alec mutters something into the pillow in return.

"What?"

Alec rolls over and says "Where did you get the cash?"

"Off a dead vampire, now get your stinky just like the rest of our clothes on and meet me upstairs"

Buffy wasn't usually a morning person at all, even before she had become the slayer. There were occasions, where she popped out of bed, with a smile on her face and a beat in her step. Mornings where she was full of energy and in a good mood. She hadn't had one of these mornings in a long time, all the way back to before her mother got sick.

This morning was one of those mornings which comes rarely; she woke up early feeling good, saw Dawn off to school and now was, with a slight dance in her walk, heading to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast.

She knew why she was in such a good mood; it all had to do with her new friends. And it all started with patrolling, when Max, Robert and she were fighting vampires last night; Robert and Max kicked vampire butt just as well as she did if not better and for her, it felt good. No offence to Xander, Willow and the rest of her friends, but whenever she and them went patrolling together, she always felt like she need to watch their backs, still even now despite Willow being such a powerful magic user. She loves her friends and love the fact they would go threw danger for her, but it caused her stress at time to have them along. But with Robert and Max, she didn't have to worry, in fact, at one point; Robert was fighting two vampires by himself and made it look easy. After the patrolling, the three of them went to the Bronze where they spent most of the time, finding out about each other, Buffy found a lot of similarities between her and Max.

Speaking of Max, the kitchen door opens and Max walks in.

"Good Morning, Max" Buffy said cheerfully

"Good Morning, you seem cheerful" Max said

Robert walks in and says to both of them "What's up?"

"Morning to you too" Buffy said to Robert

"Hey, do you know where we could buy some new clothes, the ones we're wearing are starting to stink" Robert said to Buffy

At that moment, Max sniffs her shirt and thinks 'he's right'

"Yeah, we'll just take a trip to the mall" Buffy said to Robert

"Oh, the mall…well, I'm not sure I can afford that"

"You're joking, right?"

"No, isn't the mall where rich people shop"

Buffy laughs "Maybe in your world, but here…it's for everyone"

"Well then, yeah, okay, whenever we can get going"

"First, let's get all of you change" Buffy takes sniff of Robert's shirt "because you really do stink. Max, you can borrow something of mine, and I'll call Xander and see if he can lean something to you and Alec. Once you all change, I'll throw those stinky cloths in the washer"

Robert wasn't so sure he like the idea of borrowing something from Xander, from what he's seen so far of him, he doesn't have the best choice in clothes.

Alec walks it, his hair messed up and looking half asleep. He walks over to the coffee pot and pours himself a cup.

"Alec, we're going clothes shopping today" Robert said to him

"Cool" is all Alec muttered

"Why do you look half dead?" Max asked Alec

"After you three left, Giles and I continued our discussion over music with a bottle of scotch" Alec answered

"And you think coffee is going to help with that hangover" Robert said

Alec looks at his coffee for a moment "Good point" He then pours it out in the sink

"Good Morning, Nerds!" Ames said as he opens the shutter doors to the basement that Warren, Andrew, and Jonathan hide in as the hatched their somewhat diabolical plans, well more comic book villain plans

Upon seeing Ames as he entered, Andrew freaks and screams "OH NO! It's the X-Files, they've found us!" then runs up the stairs to the upstairs floor

Warren had a different reaction "Who the fuck are you?"

"Interesting you should ask that way" Ames said as he strolls on in "Well, you could say that I'm the only one in this room who's had sex"

"Hey, I've had sex!" Warren said back offended

"It doesn't count when it's a robot girl"

"No, it was with a human girl and how do you know I built a robot"

"Oh, I know a lot about you" Ames stops in front of a glass display case that contains the trio's sci-fi figurines, he starts looking them over "For example, I know the three of you have been hatching up plans that could be compared to comic villainy"

"It's not all comic like!" Jonathan said

"Yeah!" Warren added "And where did you get all your info on us!"

"Let's just say my partner has taken an interest in your little trio here and would like to help steer you in the right direction" Ames points to one of the figures in the glass display "Is that Boba Fett from Star Trek?"

"He's from Star Wars and don't take him out of the display case" Jonathan said

"Like it matters" Ames said "cause in the end, that's not going to get you the things you want in life" He then notices a weapon resting on a stand "Is that the freeze gun? Now that's going to get you what you want" Ames walks over to it and starts looking it over

"That's enough, you better get the hell out of here or I'm calling the cops!" Warren threatened

Ames laughs "What exactly are you gonna tell them?" Warren and Jonathan took a moment to think, and when Jonathan was about to answer, Ames adds "And do you really want them pointing around down here?" The answer that Jonathan was about to give didn't come after the second question he just stayed quite "Besides, I don't think my friends over there would be happy if you made that call" Ames points to the entrance in which he came in.

Standing there was two people in red cloaks and hoods, by there big shoulders, they could tell they were built, and by the claws on their hands, they could tell they might not be all human. They couldn't tell what their faces looked like due to the hoods.

Warren and Jonathan had a scared look on their faces while Ames says "Now, let's get down to business"

It was well into the day, and Buffy, Xander, Alec, Max and Robert were shopping at the mall. Max had borrowed some clothes from Buffy to wear for awhile and Alec and Robert got a change from Xander. Xander's clothes didn't exactly match Robert and Alec, but beggars can't be choosers.

Robert was currently on the second floor, just outside the game shop, leaning against and looking over the railing at the people going by on the first floor, he was holding a shopping bag with clothes in his right hand. At the moment, he was thinking about how all these people look so happy with their normal lives, which lead him to think 'why couldn't he have one?' The only answer he could think of was that he wasn't built to have one; he was built for an abnormal life.

Alec, who just came out of the game store, walks up next to him and looks over the rail "Total bust" he also, had a bag with new clothes.

"Nothing good?" Robert asked

"Nothing" Alec asked

"But I saw some P2 stuff"

"Yeah, but it's around the more early stuff, like there's Smackdown, but they haven't got to Smackdown vs. Raw yet"

Robert laughs "Good thing too, because I always kicked your ass at all the Smackdown vs. Raw games…hey, maybe the first Halo is out"

"Don't know, didn't think to look, besides, why bother, it's not like we have enough spare cash to buy anything"

Robert and Alec start to walk towards the shoe store where Max, Buffy and Xander were currently.

"You know, I always kicked your ass at all the Halos too…and all the Gears of Wars" Robert said

"You didn't always kick my ass" Alec responded

"Yeah, there were a few close games, but I still won"

"I won sometimes!"

"I would say, once and awhile, but not sometimes. There was one game I always won with a high score, Madden"

"Those don't count"

"And 'why' may I ask?" Robert said

"Because it's a sports game and sports games don't count" Alec answered

"They do count; you're just a sore fucking loser"

"And proud"

Max had never been shoe shopping like this, not were you sat down and they took a measurement of your feet and then got the size you need, basically full service. After getting two pairs of clothes, Max couldn't get anything too expensive, she basically got a cheat pair of tennis shoes.

The only ones in the group today was her, Buffy, Robert, Alec and Xander. Willow and Terra didn't come along, and Max figured it was because of the tension she sense between Willow and Terra. Max had asked Buffy if there was something going on between the two, but Buffy didn't know anything except it had been this way since the whole musical event.

Buffy and Max were heading out of the shoe store followed by Xander. Sure Xander could have gone with Robert and Alec, but instead decided to go with Buffy and Max and hang with two beautiful women, even if it was shoe shopping.

"Wow, that was fun" Max said

"You make it sound like you've never been shoe shopping before" Buffy said

"Not like that" Max then sees Robert and Alec walking up to them "Hey guys, buy any video games"

"First off" Robert responses "We don't say video games, we just say games, and no we didn't, we don't exactly have enough money"

"Yeah, plus all of them were really out of date" Alec added

"Out of date?" Xander said

"Well, out of date for us"

"Buffy!" A female voice called out from the distance. They all look to see a young woman with natural tan skin, blue eyes, long brown hair and a glow to her that seems to go with her smile, heading their way. Her name was 'Casey' and Buffy knew her from High School and College.

Casey quickly, gives Buffy a hug and says "I haven't seen you since you left school last spring semester. What've you been doing?"

Buffy hugs her back "Oh, I've just been busy"

Casey and Buffy part and Casey notices Xander "Haven't seen you in an even longer time" She then gives Xander a hug.

Xander receives the hug with a big smile "Hi, Casey"

Alec leans over and whispers to Robert "Friendly, isn't she"

After Casey parts from Xander, she says to Buffy "So, are you going to introduces me to your friends"

"Oh, yeah" Buffy said "This is Max, Robert and Alec"

"Hi" Alec says to Casey will giving her a sweet smile, Max sees him doing this and roles her eyes

Casey returns a funny look "Hi" she then asks all three of them "So, are all of you from around here or…"

"No, we're from Seattle" Max said

"Their staying with me…their helping me out for awhile" Buffy said

"That's great, so what's Seattle like?" Casey asked

Max and Alec answer at the same time "Wet"

Casey laughs at their answer and then notices that Robert didn't answer, he was staring off into a crowd of people "I take it you have a different opinion"

Robert realizes that was meant for him and comes out of his thoughts "Huh, what?"

Casey laughs "About Seattle?"

"What about it? It's wet…and kind of crowded"

Casey laughs again "You three don't seem to have a very high opinion of Seattle"

"No, it's great" Max said "Just as long as you don't see it the way we see it" That way being the futuristic third world country version that they come from

"And what way is that?" Casey asked

'She had to ask' Max thought and then says "Ah, no way that's really…all important, hey, I'm getting hungry. Is anyone else hungry?"

"I could use a bite to eat" Robert said

"I was just heading to the food court, maybe we could all have lunch together" Casey said

"I see no problem with that" Max said "Buffy?"

"Yeah, sure, why not" Buffy agreed

They headed towards the food court together and once there, all agreed on a table to meet up at and then when to whatever food stand each of them wanted. Xander and Alec wanted McDonalds, Max and Buffy went to Subway, and Robert and Casey both decided to get some pizza at the pizza stand called 'Leaning Tower of Pizza'.

Buffy and Max were the first ones back. Buffy was eyeing Casey as she laughs at something Robert said. This staring didn't go unnoticed by Max.

"Hey" Max said to Buffy, getting her attention

"What?" Buffy replied

"So you don't like Casey?" Max asked

"Huh, no, she's okay…I mean, I like her"

"Then why are you eyeing like you hate her?" Max asked but she already knew the answer

"I'm not…I didn't know I was"

Alec and Xander return, with trays in hand, and take their seats

"This is great" Alec said "Do you know how long it's been since I've had McDonalds, and the best part is it's still affordable"

"What? McDonalds is expensive in your future?" Xander said

"Well…yeah" Alec answered

At that moment, Robert and Casey make it back, carrying their food and a conversation "I'm telling you it's a great museum" Casey said "Buffy, tell Robert that Sunnydale has an awesome museum"

"I wouldn't know" Buffy replied "My mom may have worked there, but I never really went"

Robert puts down his food and then pulls out Casey's chair.

"Oh, a gentleman" Casey said as she sits down, Robert then takes his seat.

"How about you let me take you there" Casey said to Robert

No one could see Buffy's fist clench under the table as she waits for Robert to answer.

"I don't have any money" Robert said

"I've got you covered" Casey says "Think of me as your tour guide"

"Don't you have to pay tour guides?"

"Okay, free tour guide…with all expenses paid"

Robert thinks for a moment and then answers "Sure, why not"

No one saw the sudden let down look on Buffy's face.

"What type of museum is it?" Alec asked

"Oh it's has a little of everything, art, history, science" Casey says

"I love all that stuff" Alec said "Maybe I could come along"

"Well, if you want, but you might be bored"

She didn't even know him and she said he might be bored, Alec knew what she really meant, 'please don't come along' "Maybe your right, anyways, I've got stuff to do tomorrow" Anyways, the only thing he liked about museums was robbing them.

"Like, finding a job" Max said to him with a smirk

"Yeah, that" Alec muttered

After lunch they all said there goodbyes to Casey and started heading back to their car. Xander, Robert and Alec were walking ahead of Buffy and Max.

"So, you're here for a few days and you already have a date" Alec said to Robert

"What are you talking about? It's not a date" Robert said back

"Then what would you call it?" Alec asked

"Ah, someone…showing someone else the town"

"Yeah, that's what it is" Alec replied sarcastically

"So, tell me about Casey" Max said to Buffy

"I knew her from high school, she was sort of the popular girl" Buffy said

"Really? She's pretty, but seems to nice to be the popular girl"

"You must be thinking of the stereotype movie popular girl where she's pretty, rich and mean, it really doesn't work that way in real life, we had a pretty, mean and rich girl, but she wasn't as popular as she thought she was. Really, if you think about it, why would people like someone who's mean to them all the time"

"That does make sense"

"Anyways, Casey was nice to everyone, including yours truly. She was a cheerleader for a short time, but gave it up for the student council"

"Wow, was she head cheerleader?" Max asked

"No" Buffy answered

There was a few seconds of silence before Max says "Well, this was fun and the closes I'll ever come to a somewhat normal life"

"Glad you had fun" Buffy said "So, what's up for tomorrow?"

Max sighs "Looking for a job"

"Really? Any idea what job you want?"

"Anytime but a bike messenger…well, almost anything"

Buffy laughs "Don't worry, there are no bike messengers in Sunnydale"

TBC

Ending notes: Yes, it is a character based on the girl from 'Life with Derek'. Looks the same, acts the same, and even the same last name


	6. Chapter 6: New Starts, Old Problems

Beginning notes: There are going to be a few changes to Season 6, things might not happen the same as they did in the series. Also, for awhile, I'll be focusing more on Max, Alec, and Robert. But it will equal out after awhile.

Outsiders

Chapter 6

New Starts, Old Problems

It was morning, and Robert was waiting in the living room for Casey to arrive. He had got up early, did a morning work out, and then took a shower. After, he dressed in some of his new clothes, and now was sitting down waiting for her. He was a little nervous.

"Oh, don't we look all nice and clean" Max said as she walks into the room "And nervous, little nervous about your date"

"It's not a date" Robert replied annoyingly "Why does ever one think this is a date"

"Relax, Robert, I'm just messing with you"

"Yeah, well, you know, it's just I'm not ready to…you know since" Robert found the words hard to say.

Max walks up to him and hugs him "I know" she parts from the hug and says "Are you sure you wanna do this?"

"Yeah" Robert says "It's just two people getting to know each other and becoming friends"

"Are you sure that's how Casey sees it?"

"I'm sure she does"

Just then, they both hear a car pull up. Robert looks out the window and sees its Casey.

"I guess I'm out" Robert said and heads for the door "See you later, Max"

"Bye, have fun" Max said

As Robert makes it to the door, Buffy was heading down the stair "Oh, your heading out?"

"Yeah, I have that thing with Casey…remember?" Robert said

"That's right…well…enjoy"

"I'll try" Robert said and left.

As he went outside, he saw Casey getting out her car. She smiles and greets him and then they both get back in her car and drive off.

Buffy watches them go from her living room window. Max came back in the room and when she sees Buffy, says "You don't have to worry; he's not interested in dating her"

"What?" Buffy said as she turns around, trying to fake a shocked look and hide the happy one "Why would that worry me, it's not like…I care if he is"

"Oh come on, Buffy, this isn't second grade, you don't have to hide it"

"It's that obvious, huh"

"Yeah, it is" Max said with a nod

Buffy smiles "Okay, I like him…and you said he doesn't wanna date Casey" Buffy felt her hopes raise.

"He's…not really looking to get involved with anyone right now" Max said and then Buffy felt down again "There's a reason behind that, you see he lost someone he loved, and well…" The night Robert and her went patrolling with Buffy, they told each other their pasts. Buffy told the two of them about her past and Max and Robert told her about their past. Buffy learned a lot about Robert; when Max rescued him, she found that he had lost his memory. They later learned from a member from his old unit, that Robert lost his memory protecting the whereabouts of Max herself. Him and his unit had found her location and decided she wasn't hurting anyone. In the end, they had all decided to not tell Manitcore where she was. They weren't buying it and decided to integrate Robert and force the info out of him. Robert told his unit that while they were doing that, the rest of them would escape. No one knows exactly what went on during the interrogation that caused Robert to lose his memories, but there are theories. This is the part that she didn't tell Buffy that night and decides to tell her now, the one that told them this was a woman transgenic named Elizabeth and apparently back in Manitcore, her and Robert had a secret relationship going on. Robert couldn't remember it, but he did have strong feelings towards her. They pick things back up and it was going great between the two of them, until Amies shot and killed Elizabeth. Robert went from smiling and happy to anger and revenge.

Max finishes telling Buffy about this, and Buffy was speechless. She felt really bad for Robert and her face shows it.

"To make things worst, the bullet was meant for Robert…but Liz threw herself in the way" Max added

"Oh" is all Buffy could say, she couldn't think of anything else

"Is it alright if I ask you a question about…Robert and, you know, your attraction to him?"

"Sure"

"Now, don't get me wrong, I think he's a hottie, and to add to it, he's a sweet guy, but…you've only known him for a few days, how is it you have this strong attraction to him? Or do you believe it the whole love at first sight thing?"

Buffy was about to answer, but then realizes she has no answer to give "I…I don't know, I just am"

"Maybe someone cast a spell on you"

"No, I don't think, there is a love spell, and that makes a person go completely crazy over someone. I'm just really attracted to him and I'm pretty sure there's not an attraction spell, plus why would anyone waste time making one"

"Well, if there is one, I would say your under it" Max said

Buffy laughs "Me and Casey, she was a little more direct with him then I've ever seen her with guys"

"She's your friend, so you would know" Max said "Maybe, I'm just looking to much into this, he's sweet and hot, so I can see why you would like him"

Buffy looks at Max with a mischievous smile "Have you ever been…hot for him?"

The question made Max a little uncomfortable "I've had thoughts, but he's more like a brother to me"

By the expression on her face, Buffy could tell the question made Max uncomfortable "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have asked that"

"No, it's okay, you're not the first to asked that"

"Oh" Buffy said "So, what are you up to today?"

"Getting a job" Max replied

"Really?" Buffy was a little disappointed, she was hoping Max didn't have anything and would hang with her, but she said before that she wanted to get a job and pay rent, so…

"Yeah, I saw an auto repair place on the way back from Sunnydale mall, I was thinking about trying there" Max had always been good at vehicle repair…and really good at vehicle theft, but she wasn't going to need that skill for a job like that.

Later, Robert was enjoying his visit to the museum with Casey. The Museum consists of three floors and right now, they were on the third floor which was dedicated to artifacts and items for around the world.

Robert was standing in front a display case that had a complete samurai armor in it. He was almost memorize by it, as if it reminds him of something from his past, but he couldn't quite remember what.

Suddenly he heard a strong male voice say in the distance "I can see you're admiring the armor, when you grow up, maybe you can try it on"

Robert turns around expecting to see this person behind him, but he's confuse when he only sees Casey "Huh…did you say something?"

"I said, you seem to like that display" Casey said

Robert doesn't answer back, instead he looks around, see if there were any older men around. However the only other people he sees are a mother and daughter down the hall.

"Are you alright?" Casey asked

Robert rubs his head and says "Just…imagining things"

"Imagining…what?"

"I wish I knew…hey, I'm getting a little hungry"

"Come to think of it, so am I"

In town, there's a repair shop called 'Jake's Auto Care', it's a repair shop for all vehicles and even had a small car parts junkyard behind it. To Max, this place was the job of her dreams. She would have gotten a job like this back in her own time, but it wouldn't have gotten her a sector pass and the perfect cover for scooping out places to rob. The rob part was before she meet her good doer friend Logan.

In this time, there were no sector check points and she wasn't planning on being a cat burglar, so now she could get a job she enjoyed. Max filled out an application with the lady at the front desk and now was waiting as her application was being shown to the owner and manager of this place.

After five minutes of waiting, Jake, himself, appears from the back office to meet Max. He was a mid forty old man that was a little over weight, brown hair with a bald spot in the middle, and was wearing a blue jump suit that had oil stains on it.

"So you're the young lady interested in a job in auto repair" Jake said as he shakes Max's hand

"That's me" Max replied

"And according to your application, you specialize in motorcycles"

"Yep, I have a motorcycle of my own…well, back in Seattle"

Jake takes a hard look at her application "To be honest, I'm not that sure, you don't have any schooling in auto repair…"

"How about this" Max said "I notice a cycle out there, waiting to be fixed, just tell me what's wrong and, as long as you have the parts here, I'll repair in no time. Once I finish and you see how good of a job I did, you hire me"

Jake laughs "Young lady, you have a deal"

There was a café on the first floor of the museum and that's where Robert and Casey decided on having lunch.

At a small round table, the two of them sat with their food in front of them.

"I would say you're unusually quite, but I haven't known you long" Casey said, she been the one doing most of the talking sense sitting down.

There was something on Robert's mind and he decided now was as good as any time to ask it "I was just wondering…well…how do I ask this…"

"Just ask" Casey said

"Do you think this…are we on a…"

"Date?"

Robert didn't want to sound offensive and that's why he couldn't figure out how to ask it "Yeah, huh...is this a…"

Casey turns a little red with an embarrassment "Well, I was kind of thinking of it as a…date, but I guessing your not"

"No, look, I didn't mean to make you feel bad, and I'm enjoying the time we're having today. However I should have been up front from the beginning…I'm not ready to start dating again…not sure when I'll be"

"Oh" this wasn't making Casey feel any less embarrassed "Did you just break up with someone?"

"No, she was…killed"

Casey went from feeling embarrassed to bad "Sorry"

"You don't have to apologize, you didn't know" Sadness spreads across his face "She was someone I love very much, and…she was killed…shot to be more exact"

"Is it alright if I asked by who?" Casey spoke carefully, not sure if it was a question she should be asking

Robert felt as if he could open up to her. He guess it had to be her personality that made him feel that way, however he couldn't tell her the true, so he decides to make up something close to it "By a…mugger, I was there…wasn't able to protect her"

Casey's heart went out to him, and she shows it by reaching across the table and takes a hold of his hand.

"Sorry to unload this on you"

"No, it's okay; it's what friends are for"

Robert smiles back.

Buffy was walking to the Magic Box for a reason and just like she did five minutes ago, she stops and decides that reason was stupid and she was over reacting. Then, just like five minutes ago, she decides it wouldn't hurt to check and continues on.

Buffy knew she was over reacting about her purpose for this outing. That being her sudden attraction to Robert. There was a thing as love at first sight. Although this wasn't exactly love, it was more like big attraction at first sight. But there was a part of her that was wonder if there was a spell involved, not that she thinks Robert cast it, but maybe someone else. Then again, why would someone due that, what would they have to gain.

Buffy rubs her head, and sighs, yeah, she was over reacting. It was just that she's only known him for a few day and for some reason he had this familiarity about him.

Anyways, she was close to the Magic Box, and might as well continue heading there.

It was late in the Afternoon as Max makes it back home with good news that she couldn't wait to share with someone. She unlocks the front door with the spare key Buffy had given her and walks in "Hello, anyone home?"

"Just me" Alec called out from the living room

Max walks into the living room to see Alec sitting on the sofa watching TV with a bag of chips at his side.

"Is this what you've been doing all day" Max said, she was a little angry "Sitting on the couch, eating their food"

"Oh, come on, it Ruffs, do you know how hard it is to find a bag of Ruffs in our time!"

"Alec, you were suppose to be looking for a job"

"Hey, you know the saying 'why do today what you can put off till tomorrow'"

"Yes, but what is today but yesterday's tomorrow"

Alec opens his mouth to say something back, but couldn't think of a comeback. He was actually a little impressed with Max's witty comeback. So he decides to do the whiny approach "Oh come on, why are you getting on my back while you let Robert go out on his date"

"It wasn't a date"

"Well, it wasn't him looking for a job either"

Max hated to admit it, but Alec was right "You're right, so tomorrow, the both of you will start job hunting"

"Who made you the boss?!"

"Alec, just…please don't argue with me on this, okay"

Alec sighs "Alright…so how was your day?"

Max smiles "Oh, I got a job as an auto mechanic"

"That's great, so if you have a job, then what's the rush for me to get one"

"Alec"

"I'm just saying I could use some time to get the lay of the land, get a few side things going on and…"

"Alec!"

"Alright, alright"

Ames was still in the trio of nerd's basement, he was using their computer to do a little research. As far as what Warren, Andrew and Jonathan had to say about this, well they had nothing to say. They were at the other side of the basement, still afraid of Ames's bodyguards. The bodyguards were eyeing the trio; making sure they didn't do anything funny. Well, you couldn't actually see their eyes with the hoods casting a shadow over the front of their faces, but they were looking in the nerds' direction.

"I can see your doing the research like I said" The First(Max) said as it appeared out of nowhere

Ames jumps a little at first, he's still getting use to the First ability to look like certain people "So far all I've found out is that it's a ghost town" The First had told Ames that in a town, on the other side of the US, called Silent Hill, there was a power that would give him the strength to crush his and the First's enemies. However, the First told Ames that he best do his research first.

"Don't forget to look up and print maps, their gonna be your best friends in that town"

"Right…huh, do you have to look like her" Ames said, not liking the Max form

"Aww, and I thought I looked sexy" The First(Max) did a fake pout and then changed into Robert "Is this better?"

"That not funny!"

The Trio of Nerds watch, as what seem to them, Ames talking to himself. The First was only seen by those it wanted to be seen by and right now they weren't included on that list.

"He's talking to himself again" Jonathan said

"You should say something to him" Warren said as she shoves Jonathan forward

"No way!" Jonathan said as he back peddles

"Then you do it" Warren now shoves Andrew forward

"Wait, why me?" Andrew replied in a panic

"For god sakes, show some courage, man!" Warren said back

Wanting to look courageous in Warren's eyes, Andrew decides to do it "Ahh, Mr. Ames, sir" he says as he takes a few steps forward, but stopping there. He didn't want to pass the bodyguards.

"What?!" Ames yells back

"Ah, nothing! No…actually I…we were wondering who you were talking to"

Ames looks at them annoyingly "None of your business…besides don't you have a freezes ray to finish!"

"We're almost done" Andrew said

"Almost done isn't finish"

"Right, we'll get back to it and finish it" Andrew then backs all the way into Warren. Then they three of them get back to work

Casey's car pulls up to Buffy's house and stops.

"Thanks, I had fun" Robert said

"Your welcome" Casey said back with her sweet smile

"Next time, my treat…I just need to get a job first"

"I'm looking forward to it…and if you need any help finding a job, just give me a call"

"Sure thing" Robert replied "…Also, back in the café, thanks for listing and understanding"

"No problem, that's what friends are for" Casey said

Robert smiles back "yeah, friends"

"Just…can I give you some advice?"

"Sure"

"I know inside, you can still see the face of the guy who killed the woman you loved and you wanna kill him" Suddenly a realization came to Robert, but it wasn't something he'd talk to her about, it was something he needs to tell Max and Alec, so he just continues to listen to Casey "But if your ever face with that chance, don't…don't let revenge change you because you have a good heart and you shouldn't let that scum bag change who you are. I'm sure she wouldn't want it to change you either…okay"

"Okay" Robert replied softly back

The two of them hug and then Robert gets out of her car. He waves to her as she drives off.

As Robert turns back toward the house, he sees the curtains fall shut and could only wonder who was watching them.

"I'm home" Robert says as he enters the house "Well, I guess sort of home…my temporary home in a sense, not that I have a permanent home"

"Oh just shut up and get in here!" Alec yelled from the living room

Robert walks into the living room and sees Alec and Max sitting together on the sofa, looking innocent "I know both of you were watching"

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Alec said

"Yeah, we both been sitting right here, watching some entertaining programs on T.V." Max added

"Yeah yeah yeah, it's probably good you're sitting right now, because I have some bad news…actually I'm a little surprise we didn't think about this before, you would think this would be something that one of us would bring up…but maybe we've had too much on our minds to…"

"Oh would you just say it already!" Alec said

"Ames White"

"Ames?! What about him?" Max asked

"I think he's here…somewhere"

"What?! Did you see him?!"

"No, but he was in the lab when we got sucked into that hole in the universe, so it's only reasonable to assume he came here with us" Robert said

"But he wasn't with us in the graveyard" Alec said

"We couldn't open our eyes for awhile, remember, so he could have ran off"

"What makes you think he'd recover before us?" Alec asked

"He has a higher pain threshold then us" Max said "So he could have gotten to his feet first"

"Why haven't we seen him sense then, has he gone hiding…perhaps plotting something?" Alec asked another question

"Don't know" Robert said "Hell, we can't be one hundred percent sure he even came threw, but we have to go on the theory he did and is hiding"

"You're right" Max says as she stand up "and we're gonna have to warn Buffy and her friends ASAP…Does anyone know where she is?"

"Oh, she went to that shop her friend owns…what's it called…ah, the Magic Box" Alec said

"I know where it is" Max said "Let's get going"

"Wait…now?" Alex said, not really wanting to move

"Yeah, that's the whole point behind ASAP" Max replied annoyingly

Alec grunts and stands up, then they all leave.

They walked all the way and when they got close, they heard Buffy and her friends scream. Running to the front entrance of the store, they saw four vampires standing outside, and immediately attacked. They didn't have any wooden stakes, but Robert did bring along his katana, he slays two of them while Max and Alec held off the other two; then passed the sword to Max and she took out the other two.

Once the vampire threat was dealt with, they entered the shop and were surprised to find Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Terra, Xander, Anya, Giles and even Spike hiding from the vampires they just took care of. And even more surprised that all of them had lost their memories.

They were able to figure out that Buffy and her friends were under a spell, and after doing some research, they were able to figure out how to reverse it. However that's went things got worse.

It was revealed that Willow had cast the spell to make Terra forget about a spell that Willow had cast on her before which was another spell to make her forget about a fight they had about Willow's abuse of magic. This had Alec scratching his head. The spell, however, backfired and made everyone forget who they were.

The next day, Terra left Willow and moved out of Buffy's house, which the two girls were starting. But that wasn't the worse thing to happen, Giles, who was like a father to Buffy; felt that Buffy was relying on him too much so he decided to move back to England. Of course he also misses home. Giles told Max, Alec and Robert that going back to the U.K. didn't mean he wasn't going to help them anymore, in fact, it was better in the long run because he'd have more access to material there that would help his research.

Later that night, Max, Alec and Robert were sitting on the roof of Buffy's house, looking up at the stars.

"So what do you think of our chances of getting home now are?" Robert asked Max

"I don't know" Max replied "I know Giles still said he was going to help, but all the way across the ocean. And then of course Willow, the witch with a magic addiction problem…at least that's what Terra said…I think we might be here for awhile longer then I expected. Well, I didn't have a time frame, but if I did, then I would say we were gonna be here longer then I expected" Max looks at Alec "And I bet this makes you happy"

"Hey!" Alec acted shocked "I'm all for going back, but I might as well enjoy the time we're here for"

"Whatever, you're still getting a job tomorrow"

"Yes mom" Alec said sarcastically

"Weren't we suppose to get a job today" Robert said

"Things got a little distracting today" Max replied

The three of them when back to look at the stars and were quite for a few minutes until Robert looks at Max and asks "You miss him, don't you?" Robert was speaking of Logan, Max's on again off again boyfriend.

"Yeah" Max answered "I miss him a lot, but you know, these stars look just the same here as they do back home, and I'd like to think he's looking up at the same ones right now"

"I'm sure he is" Robert replied warmly

TBC


	7. Chapter 7: Buying a Job

Outsiders

Chapter 7

Buying a Job

It was morning; Max, Alec and Robert were at Starbucks. Max and Alec were drinking coffee, and Robert was drinking Orange Juice. Max was in a good mood, this was her first day at her new job. Robert and Alec weren't in a good mood because today they would be looking for a job. Right now the only place they had in mind was Magic Box which was own by Buffy's friend and Xander's soon to be wife, Anya.

"Could you stop being so happy" Alec said to Max

"I'm not letting you kill my good mood" Max said back "This is the first time…well ever that I've been excited about going to work"

"But in the end, it's just another dead end job"

"Guess whose heading over" Robert muttered to the others

Heading over to the table was one of the Starbuck's employees, a tall ogre looking man with the voice similar to the character Cartman from the TV show 'South Park'. When they first came in here and place their orders, he was staring at Max the whole time. Of course it wasn't like Max never had men stare at her before, but this guy was just creepy.

"So, do you need a refill on your coffee?" the ogre looking man asked Max

"No, I'm good" Max said without looking at him

"You're sure"

"Pretty much"

"Then let me clean that up for you" he said as he grabs a used paper napkin Max had used to wipe up some spilled coffee

As he turns to leave and head back behind the service counter, Alec says "Yo, dude, I could use a refill"

"I'll send someone back" He said without looking back

"Yeah, I bet if I had a chest like Max, you'd be more willing" Alec said

Robert laughs "Now that would be something to see, you with breast"

As the ogre looking employee walks behind the counter, he goes up to another employee and says "Hey, hey, she gave me her number"

That wasn't meant for Max to hear, however her advance hearing did "I didn't give him my number! And I never would!" She yelled and everyone in the room looks at her "What? He said I gave him my number, which was a bold face lie!"

A minute later, Max, Alec and Robert were leaving; Max wasn't too happy, but Alec and Robert were amused.

"Look at it this way" Alec says "You have a new admire"

"Shut up, Alec and go get a job" Max responded

Max heads off in the direction of her job, while Robert and Alec head to the Magic Box to get one.

It took ten minutes for them to walk to Magic Box, but it seems like it was taking forever to get a decision from Anya. Right now she was staring them down, deciding if to hire them or not.

"I don't know" Anya said "Your association with that hussy doesn't look good for either of you"

"Hussy?" Alec said "What hussy?"

"That hussy you came here with, her name is Max"

"Hold on" Robert said, he didn't like what she was calling his friend "Max isn't a hussy…wait, does anyone even say that word anymore?"

"I do" Anya said "And yes, she is, I saw the way she was looking at my Xander, and I also saw how he was looking back"

Alec says to Robert "I don't know about Max, but I do believe Xander was looking her way"

"You're not helping" Robert said back to him

"Look, Anya" Alec says "I can assure you Max has no interest in Xander"

"And why wouldn't she?" Anya said, not buying it

"Because she already has a boyfriend back home…sort of…well, their kind of on again, off again. But last I saw, they were on again; I think" Alec looks at Robert "Were they?"

"Yeah, I think they were" Robert answered, although not completely sure

Anya laughs "You two are funny, I like funny, and I can use some funny people right now, so you're both hired"

"That's it" Robert said "We're hired because we're funny?"

"Yeah, plus the two of you are hot; it will completely make Xander jealous if either of you are working here, and I would love to make him jealous once" Anya face saddens as she continues "Although what I'd really love is getting the hell out of this stupid little town"

Robert decides to go with it "Yeah, okay, whatever, as long as we're hired"

Alec had a different idea "Anya, can I talk to you in your office?"

"Okay, but don't you try anything funny" Anya answered

"I don't plan to" Alec said and the two went into the back office

Robert watches them walk into the office and then looks around the small shop of magic. This was a lot different then working at Jam Pony. It was a lot clean and didn't have all those employees running around. He could like working here, especial sense there was a hint of familiarity about this place. It really did seem familiar to him, as if it reminds him of something; some memory that was trying to break threw his amnesia. At times like this, he would do his best to focus on it and try to remember, but he really didn't have to this time. The memory was trying to fight its way out on its own. However there was something blocking it, and causing a struggle. This starts to make Robert's head hurt and the pain starts to grow to a point that he takes a seat at a nearby table.

Robert, shuts his eyes, lays his head down and covers his head with his arms as he starts to hear whispers, however the whisper only cause his head even more pain. It was like little spikes in his brain. Then suddenly, through all the whispers, one came threw clearly, and even though it was still a whisper, it made his head feel better as it says "I love you"

"Robert! Are you alright!" Alec said as he runs over and kneels down next to him

Robert raises his head "I'm…I'm fine…I think" the whispers, the pain and the rest were gone.

As they were leaving the Magic Box, Robert was telling Alec about what happened to him "…and then one of the whispers came threw and said 'I love you'. Suddenly my head felt better"

"Could you tell who it was?" Alec asked

"No, it was a pure whisper…but I'm sure it was 'Elizabeth'" Robert answered

"Yeah, but maybe it was somebody else"

"Like who?"

"I don't know, it's your lost past"

"I don't remember all my past, but what I do know, it was spent at Manticore with Elizabeth, so who else could it be?"

"Perhaps, some other woman at Manticore, you do know Elizabeth wasn't the only one there" Alec said

"Oh, I didn't think of that"

"And let's not forget about the deep cover missions too, it could have been someone from one of those"

Robert gets annoyed "You had to make things complicated, didn't you"

"I'm just trying to help"

"Yeah, yeah, so what did you and Anya talk about?"

"Buying the Magic Box"

This took Robert completely by surprise "What? Are you serious?"

"Completely, remember how she said she wanted to leave, well, I said I would buy Magic Box from her, giving her the opportunity to go"

"How much?" Robert asked

"One hundred thousands dollars" Alec answered

"Holy cow, that's a lot! Wait; is that a lot in this time?"

"I don't know, but at least the price includes the store fully stock, except for a few things she wants to take with her. Plus she'll take care of getting us a business licenses and all the other stuff"

"Well it doesn't really matter, you don't have ten dollars to your name right now; so one hundred thousand is a little out of your range"

"Not a problem" Alec already had an idea "Anya told me about this back ally casino, it may take a few days, but I plan to get the money"

"Oh, of course, the back ally casino, but only one problem, I don't think they take fifty cent bets" Robert said sarcastically

"You're so cynical; I have an idea on getting some starter cash" Alec stopped, thinking about what happened to Robert earlier, he continues with "Look, maybe you should sit this one out. Go home and rest, I'll handle it from here"

"Oh no, I'm not letting you go off alone and do whatever it is you're planning on doing" Robert said "I'm coming with you. Now, what's your plan?"

Alec sighs, he may be a con artist, but he still cares about his friends, and Robert is like a bother to him. So when he saw him holding his head painfully on the table, Alec got concern about his current health, but he knew he wasn't going to talk him out of it "Alright, here's the plan"

Later, Robert was standing across the street from an abandon house near the docks. A house that was home to a nest of vampires, according to Alec's info. That was his plan for the starting cash, raid a nest full of vampires and then after take whatever cash they could find. This was a plan that Robert didn't really like.

Robert was waiting while Alec did some scouting around the house. Robert had told him that he was giving him five minutes to scout before going looking for him, it was now three minutes. Few seconds later, Alec came running across the street.

"Okay, from what I've scouted, there's a big window on the left side, the glass is painted, but we'll break it down, and fight with the sun on our back" Alec then notices the unhappy look on Robert's face "What's wrong?"

"I'm not liking this" Robert answered

"Not like what?"

"This whole idea, killing vampires for their money"

"Oh, come on, it's not even their money, its money from their victims"

Robert rolls his eyes "Yeah, it's like a mugger kills his victims and takes their belongings, and then we come along and kill the mugger and take the stuff for ourselves"

Alec sighs "It's nothing like that; first off, vampires are soulless monsters that feed on innocent people, that's their purpose, not like a mugger who's there to steal. Second, there's no telling the amount of harm this nest has done and will do, so in a sense, we're doing a great duty by eliminating it. So what if we take any cash lying around"

Robert thinks for a second before reluctantly saying "Alright, let's do this, although I don't think we'll get much cash"

"Just go with it" Alec said as he hands him one of two wooden stakes he got from Anya

"One more thing" Robert said as he takes the stake "We're gonna be partners, you know, in owning Magic Box"

"Yeah, sure, no problem"

Short time later, a wooden beam comes crashing threw the widow Alec was talking about, waking the sleeping vampires, and following it, Robert and Alec. With sunlight to their backs, they eliminated the vampires and made it look easy.

Once all the dust settled, Alec found one hundred and seventy five dollar, and Robert found seventy five dollars. Robert also found an expensive watch with an inscription that said 'To Elena, all my love'. He couldn't help but wonder who Elena was and what happen to her. Was she turned into one of the vampires they slain, or was she simply one of their victims. Maybe nothing happen to Elena and the lover that would have given her the watch fell to one of those fates.

Alec saw the watch and knew it could bring some extra cash if they sold it but Robert had a different idea. Before they went to that back ally casino Alec had spoke of before, they made an extra stop at the police station and Robert turned the watch over to the lost and found, telling them that he found it on the roadside. They way he figured it, either Elena or Elena's lover was still alive and either one deserves the watch back.

Next they were on their way to their original destination. The entrances to this shady casino was just like any other one, a steel door with a little slot near the top that slid open from the other side.

As they were walking down the ally, Robert was starting to realize why owning their own business was a good idea "As good as fake ID's, birth certificates and others info Giles and Willow made for us is, their still not fool proof, and if we get a job with someone, how do we know they won't run our fake socials…hell, Max is lucky her job didn't and she has to hope they won't. If we own the Magic Box, we won't have to worry about that"

"True" Alec agrees as he walks up to the casino's metal door with a sliding peep hole

Alec knocks on the metal door and the peep hole slides open revealing a pair of eyes which was followed by a grubby voice "What do you want?"

"Just here for the gambling" Alec said

"Gambling, what gambling?" the eyes said

Alec sighs "Do I really have to say the pass phase?" Anya told him the only way he could he could get in was to say a phase and by the way the eyes of who ever was looking at him, yes he had to say it "If you wanna be my lover"

Then the eyes replied "You gotta get with my friends"

"Because love may be forever"

"But friendship never ends" The peep holes then slides shut and the door opens letting them in

"What the hell was that?" Robert asked with shock

"Yeah, apparently the password is lines from different songs, it changes every week" Alec replied as they head in

"Oh, was that Spice, huh, Spice Women"

"I think their called Spice Girls and, yes, that was them"

Once in the casino, they decided to hit the blackjack table, and with there genetically advance eye sight, they started racking in the cash. However, this caught the eye of the owner, and he meets them and invites them to a private poker game in a private back room, which was an attempt to win back the money they were winning.

"Hello" Max said as she walks threw the front door of Buffy's house "Anyone else home?" she had just finished her first day at her new job.

"We're in the living room" Dawn called out

Max walks into the living room, it was dark and the only light was a table lamp and the TV, which was mute. But what caught Max's attention was Alec sitting on the couch with Dawn sitting on his lap with his arms wrap around her waist. The two of them were smiling and flirting with one another.

Max didn't like this considering she was under age "What's going on here?"

Dawn answers "Come on, we're just playing around"

"Playing?"

"Robert didn't have a problem with it"

"Really and where is Robert?"

Dawn plays with her hair like she was clueless "I think he's in the kitchen…or maybe the dinning room"

Max walks off towards the kitchen first and doesn't find him there so she walks into the dinning room and Robert, with his back to her, was sitting at the head of the dinning room table. He was sitting there with his hands on the table and his back straighten. The table was different, it had a red Victoria table cloth and candles lit up in the middle, the candle light was the only light in the room.

Max starts to get chills down her spine as she notices how still Robert was "Robert…are you okay?" she said softly and carefully. Robert doesn't answer or even move.

Max starts to move closer, and her heart beating fast, she moves pass him and gets a good look at his face and what she saw nearly made her heart burst from her chest with fear and left her speechless.

It was Robert's face, he had no eyes and his mouth, which was open, had no teeth or tongue. But that wasn't it, no eye sockets, no back of mouth or even blood or anything. Where his eyes should be and what his mouth open to reveal was a black empty void.

"Oh god" Max was finally able to speak as fear flows threw her entire body.

Suddenly out of nowhere, and coming from an unknown origin, a loud siren starts to blare threw the air. To Max, it sounds familiar, like some sort of war siren.

As the siren blares, the candles die out, and then so does the siren, leaving the room completely pitch black.

This only adds to Max's fear, because her transgenic eyes were supposes to allow her to see in the dark, but for some reason, they weren't working. For the first time in her life, she was in the dark.

She hears Dawn giggle.

"Dawn?" Max says, but doesn't get an answer

Max backs up a step and nearly trips on a cylinder shaped object. Max bends down, feels around for a second and then finds it. It was a flash light and Max couldn't be happier to find one.

Max picks it up and turns it on. The stream of light shines right in Dawn's face revealing her wicked smile. Her smile sends chills down Max's spine. "Dawn, what the hell is going on? What the hell happen to Robert?"

Dawn cocks her head sideways and creepily replies "Perfect…hollow"

Dawn's answer not only made Max even more scared, but it also confuses her. It was then that Max shines the light on Dawn right hand and sees that she is holding a big bloody carving knife. Then Dawn starts advancing on Max. But she wasn't walking normal. Her steps were slow and hard, as if they had weights on her ankles. She had her shoulders back and her arms hung almost lifeless. Her whole movement was almost spastic.

Truth be told, Max knew she could take the girl, especial considering the way she was walking, it's just that she was so terrified that her whole being was telling her to run. And that's what she decides to due.

As Max turns around to run, there's a slamming sound and it was then that Max wakes up and finds she's lying on the living room sofa. She was thankful it was only a nightmare.

"Hey, how's it going?" Dawn said as she walks into the room from the foyer, while taking off her jacket

Upon seeing her, Max jerks up into a sitting position

"Wow, are you alright?" Dawn asked in response to Max's movement

"Yeah" Max said, it all starts to come back to her. She had a long first day at work, then came home, had a short talk with Buffy as Buffy was heading out the door, and then fell asleep on the sofa. "I just had one hell of a dream"

"Oh…can I ask a question?"

"Sure"

"Why do you look so scared…of me?"

Max didn't realize it, but she was looking at Dawn with fear "Oh…it's nothing…the dream, it was more like a really bad nightmare"

"Was I in it?"

"There were a few people in it, but it was…it's nothing I wanna talk about"

"Okay…wait, I thought you didn't sleep"

"Every once and awhile, my body needs a little caught up" Max said "Oh, just in case your wondering, your sister at the Magic Box, said there was a security guard frozen at the museum and she was meeting with Xander and Anya to see if a demon was involved"

Dawn didn't look too happy about that "I hope she doesn't stay out to late, especial with all the fog we've been having"

"Speaking of which, does Sunnydale always have this much fog?"

"It gets it from time to time, but never this much"

"Kind of eerie"

"You think so" Dawn says as she looks out the window "I find it kind of soothing"

The most shocking part of what Dawn just said was that she wasn't being sarcastic. Max found herself a little freak out by Dawn right now.

The private poker game, which Robert and Alec were attending, was being held in the back storage room, not a private room. There were four others playing poker, Alec made the fifth. Out of the four others, only two were human, the others were demons. One look like your story book bible devil, a man with red skin, a goatee, two small horns on his forehead, and he was wearing a red suit. The next one sitting next to him had slime looking deer antlers on his forehead.

Alex was the one playing; Robert was just sitting next to him, watching the game. Alec was the better poker player and well, the better cheat. They came in with only three thousand, but now they were up to ten thousand.

Alec lays down his hand "Full house" and wins another hand

"Another hand?" One of the human players said, he was bald and not happy about losing another hand to this guy "Another hand, how did you win again?"

"Just lucky, I guess" Alec said as he collects his winnings

"Lucky, my ass" the bald head man said "Your cheating"

"Now that's just a mean thing to say" Alec said, but true, he was

"But true, cheater" bald man responded, he was also part owner and signals the three henchmen in the room. The three move right behind Robert and Alec

Robert sighs and gets up, ready for a fight

Alec gets up, with a smile, turns to the henchmen and says "Come on guys, I'm not cheating, and besides my friend and I are super soldiers, so seriously, how do you expect to beat us" Suddenly five more henchmen enter the room "Good answer, good answer"

Robert's lip curls "But not good enough" he then charges into the fight, follow by Alec.

Around ten minutes later, Alec and Robert were leaving the casino with their winnings and not a scratch on them

"You were cheating" Robert said

"Well, yeah, but they're crooks, so I was just cheating bad guys. Like how Max only steals from bad guys" Alec said "besides, do you wanna get the money to buy 'Magic Box' ASAP or do you wanna spend time working for Anya"

"Whatever"

As they were walking down the alley, they heard foot steps running up behind them. Thinking it was one of the henchmen, Robert and Alec turn around, ready for a fight. They found it wasn't a henchman, but the red devil in the red suite from the poker game. Robert and Alec didn't put their guard down.

"Easy guys" The red devil said, while putting his hands up "I'm not here to fight"

"Then what do you want?" Robert ask, not so kindly

"I just wanna tell you both that those were some amazing moves back there"

"Really" Robert still wasn't putting his guard down nor giving a happy look.

"We haven't been introduced, my name is Biff" he offers Robert or Alec a handshake

It was then that Robert notices his devil tail; he puts his guard down and says "Do you like looking like something out of the bible"

Biff didn't take kindly to that "Hey that book is racists towards my kind, just because I'm red, and have a tail…and horns, I'm evil and from hell, well I'm from Chicago!" he then calms down "But that's not what I'm here for, look there's this…fighting tournament happening tonight and I think one or both of you would be great in it"

"Not interested" Robert said, and he and Alec turn to leave

"Oh did I forget to tell you there's a huge cash prize for the winner"

Alec turns back around with a renewed interest "Cash prize you say"

"Oh no" Robert said

"It looks like my ring name might be coming out of retirement" Alec said

Back at the Summer's house, Max and Dawn were in the kitchen sharing a carton of chocolate chip mint ice cream and talking. Just two spoons, a carton of ice cream and a conversion between the two. This puts Max more at ease with Dawn considering what happen earlier.

Dawn was talking about her relationship with Buffy "She doesn't seem to get that I'm not a little girl anymore"

"It must be hard" Max said

"Hard?...Oh, you mean living with her, yeah, well, it can be hard, but she's my sister, and I do love her"

"That's good, but I mean hard for both of you"

Dawn was a little confused "Huh?"

"For Buffy, she was a young woman who was just starting out on her own with just college to worry about…besides slaying; then due to an unfortunate sickness, her mom passes away. Suddenly she has to become a parent to her little sister, her teenage little sister, something she has no idea how to do. And what about you, first she's your big sister and suddenly she's your parent also. In the past, whenever you'd get into an argument with her, you always had your mom to work things out between the two of you, but now you don't have your mom; and Buffy's in charge and probably having a hard time trying to be a parent at the right time and not a sister. So it's hard on both of you"

"Oh…I never thought of it that way" Dawn said "But like I said 'I love her', when she died, I didn't know how I was gonna go on"

"I didn't say you didn't" Max replied

"Oh, I know…just…I don't know, I just wish things were easier"

"Unfortunately, life isn't easy, and sometimes it gets dam right hard, but I've notice a strength in Buffy and in you, so I'm sure you and her will okay"

Dawn smiles "Thank you, Max"

Max smiles back and takes another spoon full of ice cream.

"You know what I've notice" Dawn said as if she had a secret "I think Buffy has a thing for Robert"

"Yeah I know"

"You do? I guess Robert is the only one who doesn't"

"Oh, I think somewhere deep down he does" Max said

"Buffy always seems to fall for the abnormal type, first the vampire with a soul, Angel, then the super soldier farm boy, Riley, and now Robert, a genetically engineered guy" Dawn laughed

Max narrows her eyes at Dawn "Abnormal?"

Dawn suddenly realizes that not only did she insult her friend, but her also "Oh, what I mean was, not human…NO! I mean not regular…is that better, because I didn't mean to offend you"

"Don't worry about it" Max decides to let it go "Anyways, you should talk, I've seen the way you look at Alec"

Dawn gets a little embarrassed and denies it "The way I look at Alec? I don't look at Alec that way"

"Yeah, sure you don't"

When Alec and Robert arrived at the underground fighting tournament, they found out there was a five thousand entry fee. Plus, there weren't just human combatants, but also demon ones too. They weren't going to have the advantage they thought they were going to have. But with a fifty thousand dollar grand prize, they were still going to do it. Alec was going to fight, but Robert step in and said he would because he was the better fighter. Alec couldn't argue, Robert was the better fighter and while he fought, Alec would place bets on the fight.

The tournament was in a UFC style ring and the rules were simple, no hitting in the private area and if you kill your opponent, you would be DQed.

Robert's first opponent was a demon, but not a tough one. Robert didn't have much trouble defeating him. His second one was human, and Robert made quick work out of him. The third and forth were demons and very tough ones, he had a hard time beating them.

Robert had one more match to go. Right now, he was in the locker room, licking his wounds and waiting to find out who his final opponent will be.

"Good job in your last match" Alec said as he walks in "Although, you did have me worried at one point"

"Which point, the part where he nearly tore my arm off or when he nearly smash my head in" Robert said sarcastically

"The head one" Alec said "But cheer up, you have one more match and we're very close to our goal"

"Yeah, I just hope I don't get that stegosaurs looking demon as my final opponent"

"Hey don't worry" Alec said "You're been given some time to heal up, and you'll go out there at full strength"

"It isn't that simply" Robert says as he raises his shirt and shows a huge bruise on his rib area

"Wait, shouldn't you be healed or healing up…you have that quick healing ability…did you lose it"

"I don't think so, this was a blow I took from the demon in my last match, and I can feel it knitting up, just slower then usual"

"That's good…but should I not bet on the next match"

"Oh, nice to know my well being is top priority" Robert said

"It's not that…it's just we've come so far"

Robert interrupts "Can it, how close are you?"

"Very close" Alec answered "Sort of close"

"What do you mean? Were you holding out on bets?"

"No, just betting conservatively"

"Oh great, it looks like I'm fighting the next match!"

A few minutes later, Robert found out who his last opponent will be, it was the stego demon.

Fifteen minutes later, Robert was walking to the caged ring. Alec was off to place a bet on him, to be safe, a small bet.

Next the stego-demon heads to the cage, he was at least three feet taller then Robert, green, and stegosaurs like armored plates going down his back.

After the rules were repeated, the bell was rung and the fight started

Robert didn't start the fight too well. He was faster the demon and way more skilled. But the blows he was landing on his opponent weren't strong enough due to fatigue and injury he took from the previous fights. The demon finally caught Robert with a good hard blow, and then another, and another. However, Robert wasn't going down.

Alec starts to worry and not just about the money he put down on the fight. But then the fight changes direction. It starts to turn when the demon tries to pick up Robert in an attempt to slam him down, Robert counters with two powerful elbows to his face. It was as if Robert had not only a second wind, but also a new source of strength. Robert hit the demon with a few more powerful punches and a kick that knocks the demon out and wins the match. There was a bit of enjoyment in Robert's eyes.

Robert's hand was raised in victory and then he walks out the cage.

Alec walks up to Robert and says excitingly "That was amazing, it looked as if that dino demon was gonna finish you off, and I was worried, but then you had an amazing second wind and 'boom!' you knocked him out"

"Yeah, yeah" Robert responded "Did we make enough money"

"That and then some, buddy" Alec answered and pats him on the shoulder

"Good…I'm gonna head over and see the medic"

"I'll come with you" Alec and Robert start walking back to the locker rooms "You and me, buddy, business owners, no more taking orders from an annoying buzz cut boss"

"Anya doesn't have a buzz cut"

"That's not who I was talking about"

The underground place wasn't all that bad, despite having a fighting cage, it had a nice bar. After seeing the medic, Robert was waiting there until Alec came back with their winnings.

"What are you drinking?" Alec asked as he came back with a big suite case filled with money

"Water, I'm still healing" Robert answered

"Of course, so I've collected our money, and gave Anya a call. She was a little surprised we got the money so quick, but said to meet her at the Magic Box at 7:30 in the morning"

"So am I"

"Huh?"

"Surprise…that we go this much money so quickly"

"Yeah, I guess we were lucky"

"Too lucky, lets never do this again"

"Think about it!" Ames complains to The First (Max) as he walks down the sidewalk in downtown Sunnydale "They spend all that time in making that freeze gun only to use once on some aging security guard in a museum heist, the gun busted in the process and they left a frozen guard behind"

"Thanks for the recap" The First (Max) replied

"But think about it, they lost a powerful weapon, and left a frozen man behind that will gain the attention of 452 and her allies as well as the slayer"

"Yes, but with what they took, they'll be able to make an invisibly ray"

"You don't actually think those geeks will beat the slayer…do you?"

The First(Max) laughs "Beat the slayer? They couldn't beat the slayer if they were arm with guns! But they do prove a distraction while 'our' plans are in the works"

"I'm not so sure they can be that big of a distraction" Ames said "Also, what's with all the fog, is there always this much fog here?"

"The abyss is back, I though I scared it away with that little conversation I had with one of its minions, but with a big prize here, I should have figure it wouldn't stay away long…I have to find a way to destroy the anchor without have it trace to you or me…I'm gonna need you to pick up something extra when you make your trip to Silent Hill"

"What?" Ames asked

"I'll tell you later" The First(Max) answered "Right now you might wanna turn around and run for it"

"Why?"

"Because two of your ach-enemies are coming around the corner" The First(Robert) told him

Ames knew who it was talking about right away so he turns around and gets the hell out of there.

"Do you wanna head home or what?" Alec asked Robert, the two of them were just around the corner

"Nah, I actually wanna get something to…" Robert stopped as he suddenly had a weird feeling

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure I…oh it's probably nothing, like I was saying, I'm hungry, maybe there's a late night place around here to eat"

"There's a fast food restaurant called 'Double Meat Palace' not to far from here, maybe their open" Alec said

Only the drive thru was open at the Double Meat Palace, but that didn't stop the two of them. They walked threw the drive thru. The guy at the drive thru window saw two guys walk up, one carrying a large suitcase, and he was only a little shocked.

The two of them sat on the curve with their meals. Alec starts eating his while Robert was looking at his.

"A meat patty and a chicken patty all in one sandwich" Robert said while looking at it, not sure if he wants to eat it or not

Alec says with this mouth full "It's actually kind of good"

"I don't know"

Robert was about to take the chicken patty out of the burger when Alec says "Are you serious? If you didn't want the double meat burger, you should have just gotten one of their single meat burgers"

"Yeah, I guess I could give it a try" Robert takes a bite then, after chewing and swallowing, says "It's alright"

Alec's mouth was full again as he says "I think it's great"

After eating another bite, Robert brings up something "You know, Max isn't gonna be happy about us buying Magic Box"

Alec swallows and then replies "So? What is she gonna do? Send us to our room? I wouldn't worry too much about her"

"We should at least call her and tell her what's up"

"I've already called her"

"When?"

"Before left the fight place…what was the place called?"

"And you told her what we're doing?"

"I told her something along that line" Alec answered

"What exactly did you tell her?" Robert asked

"Well…I said that we're gonna be out late celebrating our new jobs at Magic Box"

"That's not exactly the truth"

"Not a lie either"

Robert just stares at him for a few seconds and then says "She's gonna be mad"

"We'll deal with it when the times comes"

Early the next morning, Robert and Alec were heading to the Magic Box to buy the store from Anya

As they were walking past an abandon building Alec says "I wonder, should we change the store hours?"

"First we buy the store, then we…" Robert stops talking when he sees Buffy walking out of the abandon building, she was looking a little beat up "Buffy? Are you alright? What happen to you?"

"Nothing" Buffy says "I was just…fighting a…vampire"

"That must have been some vampire" Alec said, not completely believing her, neither was Robert

"Yeah, it was, uh…did I hear you say something about buying a store?" Buffy asked

"Yeah, Robert and I are buying the Magic Box from Anya" Alec answered

"What?"

"I said…"

"I know what you said, I'm just surprised" Plus Buffy didn't know what to think about it. She likes them and wants them to stay, so does this mean their staying. But then again, there was one important question "Wait, where the hell did you get the money?" Then she notices that Robert looks a little worn out "And what happen to you? Wait, you didn't steal the money?"

"No" Alec answered "Look, we'll explain on the way"

At the Magic Box, Buffy was waiting outside the manger's office as Anya, Robert, and Alec finishes the deal. Anya brought a lawyer with her and Buffy had a feeling he wasn't human.

Buffy didn't like the way Robert and Alec got the money, but she did like the idea of the two of them owning the Magic Box. It's not that she hated Anya, she just didn't like her and really didn't like the fact Giles gave her the store.

Of course there the Xander factor, if Anya was selling this place, and leaving, then what about Xander.

"Alright, Boys" Anya said as she and her lawyer walks out the office "You two officially own the Magic Box"

Alec and Robert were following behind them.

"Pleasure doing business with you" Alec said

"Pleasure was all yours" Anya replied and then walks over to Buffy "Buffy, I guess I'll miss you, but I won't miss Xander dwelling over you" Anya nods to her lawyer and they both leave together

Buffy had amuse look "Uh, bye…I guess"

Alec looks towards Robert and both of them take a moment to take in the place. Then, with a big smile, Alec says "Alright buddy, we officially own the Magic Box!"

"YOU OWN WHAT!" a familiar angry voice yelled at them

"Oh boy" Alec said as he feels his head start to hurt.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8: Different Points of View

Outsiders

Chapter 8

Different Points of View

Max couldn't believe what she just hear "YOU OWN WHAT?"

"Oh boy" Is all Alec could say as he rubs his head

Part 1: Mr. Caught in the Middle

Robert was always caught in the middle when it came to arguments between Max and Alec and this time was no different. In a way it was literal this time, standing in front of them, Max was to the right and Alec was to the left. He probably should be listening to them, considering at any moment, he would be dragged into the middle and force to take sides. But right now he just felt like tuning them out and thinking about more pleasant things. Like, he looks at Buffy, how beautiful Buffy looks despite looking a little roughed up…there's still the question of if she's telling the complete truth earlier.

"Robert?" Max said getting his attention

"What?" Robert responded

"Where you even listening?"

"Yeah, yeah, I've been listening!"

"Then do you wanna add anything?" Max said kind of forcefully

The problem was, he really wasn't listening, and he doesn't know how to respond. But after a second to think, he decides on a response, he doesn't quite know why he thought of this but he went with it. With his left and right hand, he gave them both the middle finger "Fuck both of you!"

That takes everyone in the room by surprise.

"Yeah, that's right; I'm sick and tired of both of you arguing all the time. Alec, I told you that we should informed Max about this. And as far as you go Max, you either forgive him for what he's done in the past or you don't. But you can't just have it half way and yell at him all the time" Robert rubs his head and continues "Also I'm getting fucking tire of getting dragged between you two" Robert then turns and starts heading for the front door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Max asked

"I'm going for a walk!" Robert responded without stopping or looking back

Once outside, Robert stops and thinks about going back inside and apologizing, but then decides against it. Instead he starts walking down the sidewalk.

Part 2: The Responsible Rebel

It was early morning, Max was worried; Robert and Alec didn't come home last night. All she got was a call from Alec talking about how they went out celebrating their new jobs at the Magic Box. But from then, she hadn't heard from them. She had decided to check at Magic Box first to see if they were there or maybe at least get some info on their whereabouts.

As she gets to Magic Box, she sees Anya and a man in a suite leaving the store, Anya was carrying a brief case.

"Hey Anya" Max said "Have you seen Robert and Alec?"

"Yes, their inside" Anya said, the look on her face wasn't a nice one "Well, I would say it was a pleasure meeting you, but it wasn't" Anya walks to her car and she and the suite get in

Max rolls her eyes and goes inside just in time to hear Alec "we officially own the Magic Box!"

Max couldn't believe what she was hearing and she was pissed "YOU OWN WHAT?"

"Oh boy" Alec said as he rubs his forehead

Max starts walking towards Alec "Please tell me what I heard isn't true!" She gets to him and stops "Because if it is…"

"It isn't" Alec says "I didn't buy this place…Robert and I bought the place"

"The Hell? What is wrong with you? How can you be so irresponsible? Wait, where the hell did you get the money? You didn't steal it did you?"

"No, I didn't steal the money! And why are you just yelling at me about this, Robert's also involved"

She was tired of Alec always thinking if Robert is part of his scheme then its okay "Oh don't bring him into this!" Max said

Alec repeats "Did you hear what I said? Robert and I bought this place!"

Max sighs with frustration "Fine, so Robert, do you have anything to add?" Robert doesn't answer, and then Max notices he doesn't even look like he's paying attention, instead he was looking at Buffy "Robert?"

"What?" Robert responded, looking back towards Max

"Were you even listening!"

"Yeah, Yeah, I've been listening!"

"Then do you wanna add anything" Max said, she was annoyed by the fact he wasn't paying attention

Max expected Robert to take some responsibly and then apologize, but she never expects what came next, Robert gave her and Alec both the middle finger and says "Fuck both of you!"

Max was shock and hurt by this and he wasn't done "Yeah that's right, I'm sick and tired of both of you arguing all the time…" he continues with Alec telling him how they should have told her, but what he says next is to her "Max, you either forgive him for what he's done in the past or don't. But you can't just have it half way and yell at him all the time…Also, I'm getting fucking tire of getting dragged between the two of you" he then turns and starts heading for the front door

"Wait, where're you going?" Max calls out to him

"I'm going for a walk!" Robert said back without even looking at her

After he left, there was a few seconds of dead silence before Buffy starts to walk towards the front door "I'm…I'm just gonna go see how he's doing"

"Buffy, wait" Max said

Buffy stops and turns back around "Yeah?"

"You need to check with Dawn the first chance you get"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No, you didn't come home last night and she got worried" Max answered, she was a little surprised Buffy didn't check in last night considering Dawn was under her care. Max also was a little curious on what keep her out all night.

"Yeah, I can't believe I forgot…thanks Max, I'll be sure to check in with her" Buffy then left, leaving Max and Alec by themselves

Max attention was suddenly grabbed by Alec laughing "What the hell are you laughing at?"

"Just the whole situation" Alec answered

"It's not funny!" What could he find funny about all this, as far as Max was concern there wasn't anything funny about all this

"Oh, just deal with it, I own…I mean Robert and I own this place"

"My God, Alec, all I said was to get a job" It amazed her how he messes up even the easy stuff

"I did!"

"No, you bought a place of business. What do you plan to do with this place when we go home?"

Alec took a moment to think and then answers "I'll give it to Buffy"

Max sighs "Why couldn't you just get a job"

"This is a…You know what, I don't know what your problem is, but ever sense we got here, you been acting like our mother"

She wasn't acting like their mother "I have not" she was just trying to get them threw this "I'm just trying to keep you from doing something stupid"

"Stupid? What the hell? Before I had to deal with you busting my chops all the time and I dealt with it because of what I did to you, but I am not gonna deal with this!" Alec starts for the back room

"So now you're just gonna run"

"I'm not staying here!"

"Fine" Max said and leaves threw the front door

Max leaves the Magic Box and starts heading for 'Starbucks'. The look on her face was that of someone who didn't want to be bothered with. Things didn't get better for her, when she reaches 'Starbucks' she saw that the ogre looking guy that lied about her was working. Max sighs and leaves, she decides to just go for a walk.

On the walk, she cooled down and did some thinking. Maybe Alec was right, maybe she did turn all motherly sense getting here. She was just trying to keep the three together and make sure they all made it back. She knew she had to make up with Alec and maybe even…apologize to him.

Part 3: The Whipping Boy

"Oh boy" Alec mutters while rubbing his forehead. Here comes the witch.

"Please tell me what I heard isn't true!" he notices that she was looking at him "because if it is…"

What the hell is he suppose to say, Alec had only one response, but he decides to be a bit of a smart ass with it "It isn't, I didn't buy this place…Robert and I bought the place"

Alec realizes after he said it that it probably wasn't the best way to phase it as it really set off Max. Of course, it didn't justify what she accuses him of next "Where the hell did you get the money? You didn't steal it did you?" again, directed at him

"No, I didn't steal the money! And why are you just yelling at me about this, Robert was also involved" Right after saying that, Alec felt a little bad for trying to direct some of the blame at Robert

"Oh don't bring him into this"

That little bad feeling didn't stop him though "Did you hear what I said? Robert and I bought this place!"

Max sighs "Fine, so Robert, do you have anything to add?"

Alec notices two things. First, Max didn't yell at Robert like she yelled at him and second, Robert wasn't paying attention to them, he was starring at Buffy. Why not, Buffy was hot.

Finally, Max gets Robert's attention and Alec expects Robert to apologize to her and Max would forgive him and continue yelling at him. However, he definitely didn't see this coming "Fuck both of you!" he said while giving them both the middle finger.

Robert starts laying into both Max and him. Alec was shocked, but pleasantly shocked, he likes the response. Robert wasn't siding with neither of them. He was siding with himself, which was cool as far as he was concern.

Robert then storms out. Buffy follows Robert right after Max told her to check on Dawn.

Considering the situation and all that just happen, Alec couldn't help but laugh.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Max asked

"Just the whole situation" Alec answered

"It's not funny!"

Now he wasn't allowed to laugh, he just about had enough of her "Oh just deal with it, I own" Wait he has a partner "I mean Robert and I own this place"

"My God, Alec, all I said was to get a job"

"I did!"

"No, you bought a place of business. What do you plan to do with this place when we go home?"

Alec hadn't thought that far ahead. He didn't think he had to. But he had to decide on something "I'll give it to Buffy"

Max sighs "Why couldn't you just get a job"

"This is a…" Alec was done explaining it to her "You know what, I don't know what your problem is, but ever sense we got here, your been acting like our mother"

"I have not; I'm just trying to keep you from doing something stupid"

Now he snaps "Stupid? What the hell? Before I had to deal with you busting my chops all the time, and I dealt with it because of what I did to you, but I'm not gonna deal with this" Alec decides to leave and heads for the backroom

"So now you're just gonna run!"

"I'm not staying here!"

"Fine"

Alec gets to the backroom and sees that it is actually a gym, it was then he remembers this was where Buffy trains and exercises. This was good, because he needs to work off some steam. Alec sees a punching bag and goes to work.

Alec starts off hitting the punching bag hard while thoughts run threw his head. 'Why does she always have to be a bitch to me? What gives her the right to call me stupid?' As he continues to punch the bag, he starts to calm down and that's when the train of thoughts starts to change from anger to guilt 'I did kind of fuck up life though, being part of the plan that gave her the virus that keeps her away from Logan and after, when she was on the way to a cure, I fuck that up too. Then I kind of buttholed my way into her life and continued to give her headaches. It's a wonder she puts up with me at all' Alec stops punching the bag and sighs 'Also, I could have handle the situation better, I could have told her ahead of time like Robert said, she wouldn't have approved, but she might have not gone off like that'

Alec knew what he had to do; he had to apologies to Max.

First he needs to find her, something that turns out to be easy, because suddenly he sees Max standing in the entrance to the sales floor.

Max had a sad look and says "I'm sorry"

At first Alec thought 'Cool, she apologized, so I don't have to' but then the guilt steps back in 'You know what you have to say' so he says it "I'm sorry too"

Max walks up to him "I shouldn't have been treating you like a little kid"

"Yeah, and I probably should be a little responsible and not give you a hard time"

"Thanks" Max said and then tries to explain what happen earlier "It's just when I hear you bought this place, I felt like you planned to stay here and not come home"

"There's no telling how long we'll be here, and owning this place will be best if we're stuck for awhile" This is what Alec told her but what he really wanted to say was 'he wasn't sure if he wants to head home'

"Yeah, there's no telling how long, I just hope everyone will be okay without us"

"They'll be okay" Alec decides to change the subject "But hey, how about Robert"

"You mean how he flipped us off and cursed us out…I'm gonna be expecting an apology from him" Max said

"Maybe he should, but can you completely blame him, we're always trying to get him to take sides, it was only time before he went off"

"You're right, we'll apologies to him and then he can return the favor"

"Yeah, sounds good"

Part 4: The Mixed Up Slayer

Since last night, things have been a roller coaster ride for Buffy.

First there was what happened with Spike last night that seems like something from a bad dream and then the next morning she was nearly caught by Robert and Alec.

"First we buy the store, then we" Robert said as Buffy met up with him and Alec and nearly got caught, but luckily it was also what she used to deflect the attention off her. After she found out they were buying the Magic Box.

At first Buffy was actually happy, she didn't like the fact Giles had sold Magic Box to Anya, then she learned Anya was leaving Sunnydale right after the sale and she starts to have conflicting feelings. She was glad Anya was getting out of town, but despite her feeling, Xander loves Anya, and Buffy loves Xander and doesn't want to see Xander hurt. Of course, Anya obviously doesn't love Xander all that much if she was talking the first ticket out of town.

But despite the way she felt, the deal when threw, and Robert and Alec were happy as Alec says "We officially own the Magic Box!"

"YOU OWN WHAT?" An angry Max yelled, apparently she wasn't happy about the change of ownership

This leads to an argument in which Buffy didn't know what to do. Does she leave or stay and try to calm things down?

The funny thing about the argument was it was only between Max and Alec. Robert seems to just be standing there…standing there and now looking in her direction. He was giving her one of those 'You look nice' looks.

Buffy should have felt good about him giving her that look, but right now she didn't feel all that good, not after what happen with Spike last night. In fact she felt disgusting and she kind of wishes Robert wasn't looking at her.

As if her wish was granted, Max says "Robert?" getting Robert's attention

"What?" Robert said, it was apparent he didn't hear a thing they said. Max was angry enough as she questions if Robert was even listening. Buffy wonders what Robert's response was going to be. "Fuck both of you!" was his response and she didn't see that coming.

If that wasn't enough, Robert starts letting them both have it. Then he storms out of the store.

In the few seconds of silence, Buffy decides to make sure Robert was okay "I'm…I'm gonna see how he's doing" Plus, she didn't want to be here when Alec and Max start at it again.

"Buffy, wait" Max said

Oh, this can't be good, Buffy though. She might ask her to stay or tell her how Robert's not ready to date "Yeah?"

"You need to call Dawn the first chance you get"

"Why? Is something wrong?" Buffy became seriously worried

"No, you didn't come home last night and she got worried"

Of course, after the whole disgusting thing with Spike, she forgot to call and check in with Dawn "Yeah, I can't believe I forgot…thanks, Max, I'll be sure to check in with her" As Buffy was leaving all she could think about is how she's a bad big sister and an irresponsible parental guardian.

As Buffy makes it outside she looks around and finally spots Robert to her left at the end of the block. He looks angry, unsure, and just didn't know what to do.

Buffy quickly walks over to him and says "I would ask you if you're okay, but it's pretty obvious how you're doing"

"Yeah, but I'll, you know, deal" Robert said, it looks as if he starts to cool down a little when he sees Buffy

"So where're you off to?"

"Well, I was thinking of heading over to Starbucks, but that ogre behind the counter might be working today"

Buffy laughs, she knew who he was talking about "You must be talking about Jacob"

"I don't know his name"

"Trust me, it's Jacob"

"I guess there's only one ogre there"

"An ogre that lies a lot?"

"He did lie about getting Max's number"

"Yeah, that's Jacob"

Robert lets out a small laugh, and Buffy felt as if she did something good.

"Well if you don't feel like Starbuck" Buffy said "We can just head home and get a cup of coffee there"

"Sure, that sounds good" Robert said with a smile. As they began to walk, he adds "Sorry you had to see that"

"It's okay, I've had bigger fights with my sister"

"You know, if they expect me to apologies, they'll have something else coming"

"Really? This is something I wouldn't expect out of you"

"What to you mean?" Robert asked

"You seem like someone who tries to please all his friends, so what you said in the store was really shocking too"

"Yeah well…I don't know, I'm just tired of getting dragged between them"

"That's understandable, their both family and it sucks being stuck between them when they argue"

Buffy and Robert talk all the way back. Buffy never had this much enjoyment just walking and talking with someone.

They were only two blocks away from Buffy's house "I was thinking, since you're from the future, you have certain knowledge on certain events, like who's gonna win the next Super Bowl, knowledge like this could lead to big money" Buffy said

"Yeah, because one thing Max, Alec, and I did was memorize sports championships of the pass twenty or so years" Robert said sarcastically

"Oh, I didn't think of that"

"Besides, we came from an alternate future, so it's no guarantee the same teams will even win"

"I didn't think of that either" Buffy said "Do you think our future will end up just like where you came from?"

"No, not really" Robert answered

"Why not? Not that I'm complaining"

"Because your future isn't set. No ones is"

Buffy smiles, she was in a good mood, but her mood shifts as she gets to the front steps of her house and remembers she still didn't check in with Dawn, who by this time was at school. Buffy feels awful as she sits down on the steps to her front porch.

"Are you okay?" Robert asked

Buffy didn't know how to answer. She forgot about her sister, which makes her feel like a bad sister. Last night, that…bad thing with Spike happened…and that makes her feel disgusting. And Xander, how could she forget about one of her best friends, Anya was leaving town and leaving him. She needs to call him and see how he's doing.

Not getting an answer, Robert sits down next to her and asks again "You okay?"

'I had sex with Spike' is what Buffy wanted to say…sort of…no maybe not to him "I forgot about my sister and my best friend"

Robert puts his arm about Buffy "its okay, Dawn is currently at school, so we'll pick her up after and as far as Xander goes, we'll give him a call and see how he's doing"

Buffy felt better, not only did he know what her problems were even with out much info, but he had an answer to them. Plus, with his arm around her, it felt good, felt right, felt…familiar.

Part 5: The Unknown Allie or Unexpected Foe

About a day ago, when Robert was in the Magic Box, having the crippling pain in his head. At a nice street side café in Phoenix, Arizona, sat a beautiful woman with long blonde hair. She was athletic looking and even though she was attractive, she had a dangerous aura around her.

She sat at an outside table, drinking tea and reading the daily newspaper. Suddenly her head was filled with pain. She grabs her head as it falls to the table. She doesn't scream, but her teeth grid together in attempt not to scream. Her eyes were shut.

It felt as if her mind was being force with memories…no as if her memories of the past years were being rewritten.

The pain last for less then a minute and when it stops, she looks up to see people standing around her.

The male waiter was by her side "Don't worry, there's an ambulance on the way"

"I don't need an ambulance" the woman said as she stands up but does it uneasily

"No, you need to sit down and wait for the paramedics" The waiter insisted

"You gonna make me" The woman dared, and then pushes him out of the way as she starts to walk away

"Just trying to help" the waiter said

"I don't think you can" The woman said as she continues to leave

TBC


End file.
